The 85th Hunger Games
by ReadingWriting1342
Summary: What if Katniss never rebelled? Welcome to the 85th Hunger Games! Who will win?
1. Plain Brown HairDistrict 1 Reaping

**OK-here commences the story! Some of the reapings are a bit short, so when they are I might put two together. As there were no male tributes sent in for 1, I have done it from Stacey (**_**Secret. Vampress)**_** POV, and Secret. Vampress, I've had to come up with my own last name for her, I hope it's OK. And if you're wondering, I named the male tribute Silver Abbotson, but he isn't in it at all.**

Stacey's brothers always let her sleep in on reaping days, but she wished that they wouldn't, she liked to think about the day ahead, plan exactly what would happen, especially the way that not she or her family or friends were reaped.

She walked over to her window. It was now too light outside to see her reflection properly, but she knew what she looked like when she got up in the morning anyway. Plain brown hair. Plain brown eyes. Her little sister, Silk, liked to play with her hair, but Stacey rarely let her do it.

All Stacey's older brothers would be up and eating breakfast down the hallway. They never considered that their younger sisters might want some food too. Stacey only shared her room with one sister, Glitter, who was 12. All the younger ones shared another room.

"Glitter? Wake up. It's reaping day, you need to get your reaping dress on!" Stacey shook her gently as Glitter moaned at her to get away.

"Go wake the littlies" She moaned as she rolled over onto her front. Stacey sighed. Glitter was always late for school and for work, she never got up when she was told.

Stacey smiled as she stepped into the littlies room. They were all so sweet, asleep in their beds. She tip-toed to the very end bed and stroked Silk's face to wake her up. In a shot, Silk was awake, and getting her reaping dress on. Stacey went to each bed in turn, each little girl had the same reaction. After Silk was Sunlight, then Flower and last the youngest, Perfecta. Perfecta was the last child that Stacey's mother would ever have. Stacey's mother had died whilst giving birth to Perfecta, and now Stacey's brothers looked after them, because their father was a peacekeeper in District 5. The little girls were excitedly putting on various dresses of different colours and materials. Silk had insisted on having her namesake, and her dress had been the most expensive, but Sleek Hale was Head Peacekeeper, he could afford anything.

Glitter and Stacey walked with their older brother, Fiver, who was only 18, to the pens. Their sisters stayed with their two older brothers. Stacey was nervous, but she had no tesserae, and nor did Glitter or Fiver. Aemilia Garnet walked onto the stage looking just as pleased as she had five years ago when she'd been promoted to District 1.

"Hello!" She squealed. The next 15 minutes were occupied by Aemilia re-introducing their long line of victors. Stacey's stomach tightened as Aemilia picked a strip of paper out of the bowl and looked at it.

"Stacey Hale!" Stacey froze. No, not her. It couldn't be her; there must be another Stacey Hale in the district, not her…

"Stacey, it's you" said the girl sat next to her, nudging her, Stacey looked at her in horror. The girl's eyes were sympathetic, but full of relief too.

"No…No! Don't let them take me!" Stacey screamed. Some peacekeepers came over and began pulling her roughly onto the stage. "No! Please, help me!" Stacey cried, tears in her eyes.

"Oh, Darling!" Aemilia cried. "Oh, I feel so _sorry _for you!" But Stacey knew that she didn't understand, she wanted to punch Aemilia. She looked desperately to her sisters in crowd, but they only watched her with pity. No one was going to help her; she was going into the 85th Hunger Games.


	2. Not the Face! District Two Reapings

Corey spun his spear in his hands as he walked onto the field behind his father, Max White, for one last training session before the reapings. Max had been convinced for years that he would be reaped one day, but so far he'd been safe. He just had to survive today, and he'd survive life.

Corey's face lit up as Roxana, his lifelong training partner came into view. He thought she was the most beautiful thing on earth, or at least the part he'd seen of it, District 2. Her hair had once been long and curly, but one afternoon, she'd begged him to cut it shorter. It had been the best afternoon of his life. They'd sat in the woods, and he'd cut it as slowly as he dared, just to spend more time with her alone. She was always scared when she was with her father. So now her hair was short and curly.

"Alright, Corey, this is your last chance to practice before the reapings, and also your last chance to be reaped. This is when the Capitol will make their move, if they're going too. And this time, at least _try_ to at least beat that girl. You could win if you stopped letting her win" Max looked his son sternly in the eye, but Corey shrugged.

"She needs the confidence more than me"

"And you need the practice more. You haven't tried to actually win in years. There is a high chance that you'll have to kill that girl in the arena in a matter of weeks." Corey shuddered at the thought of killing Roxana, and slowly pulling out the deadly dagger she was afraid of, wiping the warm blood on the grass.

"No way" Corey said, with finality to his voice, but Max White only shrugged with indifference.

"It's your life, son, not mine. I had to kill Davina in the arena. She was my best friend"

Now Roxana was standing near them with her father. Corey always felt a rush of a adrenaline when he imagined sticking his spear through his throat-that man had never done anything good, except perhaps when he created Roxana.

"Hiya, Corey" Roxana said, pulling Corey out of his violent daydreams.

"Hi Ana" Roxana didn't like it when Corey teased her by calling her Ana, it made her nervous.

"You using the bow and arrow today?" Corey asked casually. "I've got my spear. And remember, torso and back only. That's where I have all the extra padding. If you shoot anywhere else, I'll lose a leg, or an arm, or an eye or something." Corey laughed at himself, but Roxana only smiled nervously. They took five bog steps back each, as they always did, and waited for Max to give the go signal. As soon as Max yelled, Roxana strung her bow and fired at Corey, Corey threw his spear like a javelin just before the momentum of the arrow knocked him to the ground, he pulled the point out of the hard leather underneath his shirt, and looked up in time to see Roxana lunge at him. Hand-to-hand combat time. His favourite. When they were wrestling he could just smell her hair. She hit him across the chest, and winded him, but he brushed it off quickly and pressed one hand against her chest, and another behind her legs, and spun her onto her back so that she was lying on the floor. Roxana kicked him in the face.

"Ow! Not the face! That's not fair!" Corey cried, cradling his cheek.

"Really? Oh, then when you're in the arena and someone is about to kill you, at least it won't be fair" Roxana teased, smiling at him. For a moment Corey's heart lifted and the pain in his face vanished.

"In the arena, Roxana, Corey would've killed you by now." The pain was back. Along with the burning hatred for Brock Quartz.

While Corey put his reaping clothes on, I hoped that it would impress Roxana, get her attention. He looked good, and he couldn't wait to see what Roxana was wearing. She looked spectacular last year, this year she would be amazing.

"Corey! Look what I drew for you!" Sofia came running into his room waving a colourful crayon drawing in her hand. "It's a picture of you and me holding hands!"

"That's lovely Sofia!" Carey said enthusiastically, looking the picture over. Sofia had drawn herself with long blonde hair, when in reality it was short and brown.

"I want to show Mummy and Daddy!" Sofia squealed, wrenching the paper out of Corey's hand. Corey laughed as Sofia skipped away. He loved his little sister, she was so funny. So oblivious to the dangerous world she lived in.

The houses in Victor Village were always bustling with life on reaping days. Corey could hear the Dexter family across the road, talking and yelling at each other. He could hear Geoffrey Vater screaming at his wife again in the house next to theirs. And downstairs he could hear his father sobbing through the closed door, and he could hear his mother comforting him.

Corey gave his father a moment before opening the kitchen door and allowing himself in. His father had regained himself and his mother was humming as she ate her breakfast. In her hand she held Sofia's picture.

"It's a very good picture, isn't it, Corey? Take it with you, as a good luck charm" Corey took the paper from his mother's hand and put it in his pocket.

"Thanks. Dad, we need to be going. We were training longer than you realised, you need to be up on the stage before the reapings begin." Max sighed.

"Yes. Alright then. I'll see you later, Isa" Max kissed his wife, Isabella on the cheek and left swiftly with his son.

Corey settled down in the uncomfortable fold-out seat. He gave a little wave to Roxana who rewarded him with a smile. She looked beautiful, in her light blue dress, with her black shoes and earrings.

"Good morning!" Avitus bellowed. He had walked onto the stage without Corey noticing. His stomach tightened. It wouldn't be long now. It wouldn't be long until he and Roxana were safe forever. But then again…It might not be long until they might be sent to their deaths.

"The Female Tribute for District Two in the 85th Hunger Games will be…!" Avitus dipped his hand into a bowl full of paper. He bought one out agonizingly slowly and looked at it for a further ten seconds. Then he squinted.

"R-Roxana Quartz!" He stammered, but then looked up as if the fact that Roxana had been reaped was wonderful. Corey didn't know what to do. Surely someone would volunteer for her? But no, Roxana walked onto the stage. Corey thought she looked a bit scared, and he didn't blame her. In a matter of weeks she could be dead….But she'd trained, hadn't she? She was strong! She _would_ win!

Avitus then stuck his hand into the reaping bowl and read the male tributes name out with the same agonizing tension.

"Corey White!" He said, still smiling. Corey wanted to punch the smile of his face, but he kept his anger hidden. Then he made the link. Roxana Quartz and Corey White, both going in the arena together, both the eldest children of champions. Well, well. What a surprise. The reapings had been rigged, and now Corey had to decide between helping Roxana win, and therefore killing himself in the process, or fighting to survive so he could come back for his family.

And his family didn't need him _that _much.


	3. Reapings in Three and Four

**I've put the reapings from three and four together because they were both quite short, and I hope that they're both good! And feel free to PM me with any recommendations for your characters, and their reapings if I haven't written them. Also, I'm very confused about this, did I miss these out? Or did they magically disappear?**

Ebony had been awake a good few hours. She liked sitting outside her house and watching the sun rise. She liked the grey colour just before the sun started shining.  
>That was when she normally made her way back inside the house. The bright sunlight made her eyes hurt and people would start passing by, and they'd throw rocks at her and call her a witch.<br>She wished that she was a witch, and then she'd turn them into maggots.  
>Her mother had begged her last night to wear the dress for the reapings, but she wouldn't. Of course, Stephanie immediately agreed to wear the stupid pink thing. At least the pink made her look like a pig.<p>

The sun was rising now and Ebony was still sat outside. Her black cat, Kinker, was sat on her lap, Ebony often wondered if Kinker was the reason people thought she was a witch, but she could never get rid of Kinker. Kinker was the only thing she loved.

"Ebony! You're not outside again, are you?" Ebony's mother, Sky, trilled from inside. Ebony rolled her eyes and stormed inside before Wira sent Stephanie out after her.

"I'm coming, Mother!" Ebony really hated her mother, she was so pathetic.

"Set the table, will you dear?" Sky asked her daughter.

"The pink china or the best china?" Ebony asked sarcastically.

"The pink, darling. You know we only use Best for visitors" Sky replied, oblivious to the sarcasm.

Ebony set the china down hard on the table. Her father would already be at the labs, reaping day or not, Teevee Dewarren was the most respected inventor in District 3, and he was right on the brink of a breakthrough. That meant he needed to be at work, 6:00 AM sharp.

"Ebony! Why won't you wear your reaping dress? Mum got you green especially, it's your best colour!" Damn. Stephanie had entered the room without her knowing. She was wearing her pink one, looking like a pig more than ever. She looked Ebony over sceptically.

"I know what you're thinking, Ebony Dewarren. You're such a bitch, you know" Stephanie didn't seem to care that her mother could hear every word.

"Stephanie! Don't say things like that to your sister! It's unladylike!"

"Sorry, mum" Stephanie said willingly.

"Now Ebony. Get your dress on now; we want to be early so I can talk to the mayor's wife about her birthday party." Sky was already thinking ahead. How could she climb the social ladder faster? Ebony found her despicable.

"No. I'm wearing what I've got on" Sky pursed her lips as she viewed what Ebony was wearing. She was dressed in black jeans and a black T-shirt. Sky even flinched at Ebony's black nails. But she gave up. She just wished her daughter would fit in. She would've been invited to Katrina's Christmas party last year, if she didn't think that Sky had taught her daughter her witch powers.

Ebony sat herself on the fold-up chair next to Mia Geordie, who quickly ran over to Kelsey Ware. Mia and Kelsey barely exchanged nods in the corridor at school; Mia was desperate to get away from Ebony.

Fausta Flower hobbled onto the stage in her high heels. Fausta Flower was probably the shortest person anyone in District 3 knew. She always had some way of making herself seem taller and in addition to her heels, this year Fausta had a metre high pink wig balanced on her head. The whole parade was laughable. Fausta's purple skin seemed to glow in the trashy lighting coming from above the stage. Ebony's chair was right at the front, she leaned forward, squinting to see the names printed in tiny letters on the strips of paper, Fausta's finger grabbed one, and Ebony could just make out the name. _Stephanie Dewarren_. Yes! That's right, Ebony thought, pick that one! But Fausta tripped on her heels and lost her grip on the name. Ebony felt disappointment rise in her stomach. Fausta quickly ripped another strip of paper out of the bowl. She cleared her throat and squinted at the name.

"Ebony Dewarren!" Fausta screeched in her Capitol accent. Ebony sighed. It would be her, wouldn't it? So she shrugged and made her way up to the stage.

**District 4 reaping**

Shiloh Storm had been awake since midnight. He'd gone down to the docks, not caring about the curfew, and started spearing fish with his trident. By three AM, he had an entire barrelful of fish, so he changed to his spear. When light peaked over the watery horizon, He picked up his trailer, full of fish, and hauled it home. If he was reaped today, then he'd have plenty of practice. There wasn't much difference between the fish, and the tributes he might face.

"Siloh!" Shiloh's little sister Hana was sitting on the steps to his house, looking tired and a bit fed-up. She couldn't say her 'Sh's' properly.

"Hana! What are you doing on the steps? The tide'll come in, in an hour or so, you could've been washed away when the water reaches the houses!" Hana was the only person he really loved, sure, he liked his parents, but Hana loved him no matter what he did. He was her hero.

"No I wouldn't! I know _exactly_ when all the tides come in now!" Shiloh straightened her hair out and picked her up.

"Well done!" Shiloh praised.

"Shiloh Storm, get in here right now! _Where_ exactly do you think you've been? Your father has been going crazy with worry! What if the peacekeepers had got you? _What then?" _Shiloh put down Hana.

"Sorry Mum" Irvette Storm smiled at her son. She could never be angry for more than a minute.

"Oh, you know I just worry about you. Please, don't do things like that!" Shiloh's mother begged. Shiloh shrugged.

"I only went fishing. There's nothing wrong with that" Irvette sighed. She knew her son didn't respect her, but at least he hadn't been caught this time. She hugged her son, and it was all she could do not to cry when he replied by holding her stiffly.

"Well, you ought to get ready for the reaping. I put out some clothes on your bed" Irvette nodded at her son and returned inside to finish the washing.

"Siloh, will you play with me? Coda says she could swim faster than me, but I said I could swim faster than you. Will you race me?" Hana was jumping in anticipation.

"Sorry Hane, I gotta go get dressed for the reapings" Hana frowned, and stuck her tongue out a tiny bit.

"Promise not to get reaped?" She asked. Shiloh laughed sadly.

"I'll try, but it's not up to me" Shiloh ruffled Hana's hair. "Besides, I'd win the Hunger Games, hands down. I need to go get some fancy clothes on now" Shiloh walked into the house, and watched Hana skip away through the window.

The clothes his mother had set out weren't as bad as last years, if fact, they were quite nice. He had some black jeans, which felt funny on his skin. He never wore jeans, if he needed to dive in the water they'd drag him down. Not to mention they took forever to dry. And the white shirt was good, but it was too hot to wear the sleeves long, so he hitched them up. He jumped around the room in an attempt to get his black kicks on properly. Man, he hated reapings.

Jose was already in the pen. He was sat, staring at nothing with his eyebrows knotted together.

"Hi, Jose."Shiloh asked.

"I have a bad feeling today. I reckon I'll get reaped" Jose replied. Shiloh shook his head.

"There's no way. Fford has over a hundred tesserae in that bowl"

"Yeah, but Fford's dad can't fish, and his mum couldn't knot a net if her life depended on it" Shiloh nodded his head in agreement.

"Hey look" Jose whispered to Shiloh as their escort walked onto the stage. They'd been making fun of Aengus Silverstone for years now. As children, they were fascinated at his tattoo's that seemed to move as he walked, but now all they wanted to know was how he could show his face in public with all that lipstick on. The first thing Jose had said when he'd been tall enough to see him over the crowd, had been, 'He's a girl!'

"Well, ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the 85th Hunger Game reapings!" He introduced their long line of victors. They'd lost two victors five years ago for the third quarter quell. Mags had volunteered for Annie Cresta, and Bradley Aitken had been reaped. There was a rumour that the reaping had been rigged so that Finnick Odair wasn't chosen. Aengus pulled Rosemary Night's name out. She was the weird girl that didn't talk to anybody, and a little boy started crying as she walked up to the stage. Aengus informed her that her mentor would be Tess Colfer, who'd won last year. As mentors go, she wasn't too bad. Aengus' long painted nails pulled out a strip of paper.

"Shiloh Storm!" He cried.

"Ooh. Bad luck mate. I told you I had a bad feeling about today" Jose said, patting his friend on the back. On the stage, he shook hands with Rosemary and Aengus, feeling mildly disappointed. Hana would be sad, but at least he would get a chance to show all those other districts who was best.

"Your mentor this year, will be Finnick Odair"


	4. Terrified

**Hi! It's the District 5 reaping! I added in the perspective of the male tribute a bit, right at the end. And also, I'm off on holiday on Friday, so it'll be harder for me to update the story. I'll take my laptop so I can write, and there's an internet café in the village I'm staying in, so if I can I'll try and get the next chapter up. Hope you enjoy!**

Daisy had been up all night in fear. It was her first reaping and she hadn't gotten a wink of sleep. What if she was reaped? What if Carly or Joe were reaped? What if Ryan was reaped? Daisy's brother, Ryan, was fifteen now and he still had three years before he was safe from the games. Now Daisy had to make it through seven years of that. Maybe she wouldn't survive today. Maybe she wouldn't survive next year. Maybe, Maybe, Maybe….

"Daisy? Why are you awake so early, it's seven in the morning, you…" Ryan stopped short as he actually looked at her. She was sat on her floor in a nest of all the pillows and blankets she could find in the house. "Daisy, are you OK? It'll be alright, the chances of you getting reaped are miniscule. It'll be fine. Think of all the hundreds of other kids in District Five. They all have their names in too" Ryan walked over and sat beside his sister, patting her gently on the back.

"But you can't know that I won't be reaped! And your name is in there too, you saw what happened to Illiana last year!" Both brother and sister shuddered as they remembered the young girl's gruesome death.

"You ought to get dressed Daisy. I'll be at the table, I think we have some fruit" Ryan walked away and Daisy forced herself to stand up. She shakily searched her chest for some pretty clothes to wear. She only had some black leggings and a black top, but she put her favourite item of clothing on top. It was a cherry red trench coat that Ryan had given her when her mother died. It would do. She ran to find Ryan and the promise of food. Ryan had been true to his word, there were apples and pears, and Daisy even saw a banana set aside just for her. She ate them all ferociously, she always got hungry when she was scared for some reason.

"Calm down Daisy!" Ryan cried, separating a juicy pear from her mouth before she could bite. "Eat slower, you don't want it all coming back up in the town square" Daisy reluctantly ate slower, waiting precisely three seconds between each bite. It was agony. Ryan just laughed at her attempts to 'Calm down', which included sweating, muttering to herself and hyperventilating.

After breakfast Ryan turned on the television. Each reaping was played live, then replayed all day. They turned on to see the beginning of the reapings in District 3. Ryan spent a few minutes laughing at the name of the boy tribute. Who named their child 'Electric'? But Daisy was fascinated by Ebony Dewarren. She had been sat at the front, and for a second she seemed to almost be looking at the bowl with glee, but the escort tripped and she returned to looking sullen and scary. She was then reaped, but she only shrugged, as if she hadn't just been chosen to die in cold blood. Daisy wished she could be strong like her, not caring, able to survive anything.

In District four, Daisy didn't care much for either tribute. The boy was big, clearly a career, and Daisy couldn't relate to the girl. Daisy was instead interested in the previous victors, and the mentors. There were an awful lot of them in District four, and they looked healthy, unlike 5's line of morphlings. The female mentor was Tess Colfer, who'd won only the year before, and the male mentor was the ever-famous Finnick Odair. He was always a mentor, because everyone just loved Finnick that much.

Ryan jumped in surprise when he looked out the window to see the town clock.

"Daisy! We have to go! They'll be picking the names out now!" Brother and sister raced towards the town square together, and Daisy made her way slowly towards her pen whilst Ryan made a beeline for his. The escort got a strip of paper out of the bowl, and looked at it, letting the tension build.

"Daisy Dunmore!" he screamed. Daisy felt her whole world fall apart. A tiny 'Oh' escaped her lips as she mounted the stage, numb of all feeling. The boy was chosen, a fifteen year old that Daisy had seen about, his name was Blade and he was rumoured to be the strongest boy in the whole of District five. Daisy realised that she didn't stand a chance, but she would _try_.

Blade looked at the little girl and felt anger rise in his stomach. She might be twelve years old, but at heart she was still a little child. Blade instantly felt protective of her, as if she were his sister. Maybe he'd try to keep her safe, nothing drastic, just keeping an eye out for her in the arena to make sure she was alright, and not killed_ too_ horribly. But then again, these were the hunger games. Every death was horrible.


	5. The Secret Stream  Distrcit 6

**Hey! Because very few bloodbath tributes were submitted, I am afraid I've had to choose some to die in the bloodbath, but because I've also tried to stick with the deaths you chose, it's gonna be a pretty spectacular bloodbath. You should have received a PM about Sponsor stuff, but if not, let me know and I'll send it to you ASAP. If you want to buy anything prior to the games e.g. The Map, then just let me know.**

Morgead sat on the wet grass, not caring that it was raining. The sky was pitch black and the grass, which had been a vibrant green the day before, was now grey and covered in dew. He hugged his knees closer and shivered with cold. He always reached the stream first. Well, he did it on purpose. They met up at sunrise, not at 3 AM. But Morgead liked sitting there on his own sometimes. It was calming.

The stream he sat beside was a secret; he used to call it the secret stream, because it was entirely hidden from view. It was located at the very bottom of District 6's cemetery, and you had to go through a little path of trees to get to it. Morgead could hear the stream trickling below him; he was sat on the bank above the stream. You had to sit right at the top, or you'd slide in. The stream wasn't too far below, but the bank had eroded over the years so that the way down was pretty steep. Morgead raised his head to see the thick tree branch that hung over the stream. You could walk across it to the other side, if you wanted to avoid soaking your feet in the cold water. But the other side was just stinging nettles and a tall fence that marked the boundaries of District 6. Jez always sat on the branch, sometimes she stood on it, and teased Morgead, but he never went on it. If there was one thing he couldn't do, it was balance on high places

Hours later, Morgead smiled softly when he heard the big, gothic gates that marked the cemetery entrance crash. He even laughed as he heard Jez curse. He stood up and brushed the dirt off his trousers as Jez came into view. She looked scared, but Morgead was too. Jez had fifty tesserae in the bowl this year; she was more likely to be reaped than ever.

Jez scrambled up the steep bank towards Morgead. It wasn't very dignified, but hey, it was better than falling in the stream. Morgead helped her up and hugged her. He could feel her shaking, but he couldn't tell if it was from the cold or fear. He rubbed her arms to warm her up, and she smiled up at him gratefully.

"Thanks. I couldn't pay the gas bills again, even with Helen helping me out. It was freezing last night" Jez confided, with one final shiver.

"Hey, don't worry. It'll be OK" Morgead spoke to her like she was a little kid, but it calmed her slightly. They both knew it was a lie. Maybe they would never get reaped. Maybe together they could become rich enough to pay the gas bills and never let their children have tesserae. But living in District 6 was living in fear and they couldn't escape that.

Six had the harshest peacekeeper force. Morgead could've been put to death hundreds of time's over for breaking curfew, Jezabel could've been beaten a thousand times for carrying and practicing with a weapon, but it was all worth it. Every bit. They just had to be certain that they were never caught.

"You scared?" Jez asked

"Sure as" Morgead replied

"Me too" Jez confessed "I wouldn't last a second in the arena. There are the mutts, and the traps, and the careers…" Jez was almost crying with fear, even though she'd only ever seen it on TV.

"No. No way is that happening" Morgead protested. Jez smiled softly at him.

"It's not like you can stop it"

"But I'll do my best" Jez smiled and kissed him softly.

"You can't do everything Morgead. If I'm reaped, there's nothing you can do, short of volunteering yourself and committing suicide to protect me. But don't get any ideas!" Morgead laughed.

"But you won't get reaped. Is that what you're wearing to the reapings? You look beautiful." Morgead changed the subject. Jez's entire face swept red.

"Yes. We shouldn't linger to long. Helen will be keeping an eye out for me today."

"I'll walk you home. Helen can't complain about that" Morgead said, as he took Jez's arm and helped her down the steepest part of the bank.

Helen was Jez's neighbour. Ever since Jez's family had been hanged, she'd 'kept an eye out', which included paying half the bills, making sure she was home in time for curfew and sharing meals with her.

Morgead walked her right to her door. They took detours just to avoid the peacekeeper patrols, because they would probably be whipped several times just for their suspicious behaviour.

"Thanks" Jez said with a smile. "I guess I'll see you at the reapings" Jez began walking away, but Morgead grabbed her arm.

"One more thing! Can I borrow your knife?" Morgead asked. Jez blinked in surprise.

"Yes…?" She pulled it out of her boot and handed it to him. Morgead gripped the knife and cut off a curly lock of Jez's red hair.

"Just in case I'm reaped" He explained, with a solemn tone to his voice. Jez nodded and smiled sadly. She kissed him one last time before she went into her house and shut the door. Now she just had to wait until the reapings began.

Morgead lived with his dad, and Mr Newman. Mr Newman was crazy, or that's what everybody thought. No-one could remember where he came from, but he'd always been there. Morgead's friends at school always asked him if Mr Newman spoke any prophecies, because there was a rumour that he could see the future.

They hadn't asked Mr Newman to live with them, he'd chosen too. So when Morgead opened the door, and he saw Mr Newman sleeping on the sofa, yelling in his sleep, he wasn't surprised. Mr Newman often yelled in his sleep. This morning it was 'DANGER! DEATH AND DESTRUCTION!' Morgead knew better than to attempt to wake him.

Morgead walked calmly into the corner of the house that was marked as the kitchen, and began making porridge.

Morgead couldn't make porridge for toffee. It was his father who was the amazing cook, but his father was still in bed asleep despite Mr Newman screaming at the top of his lungs. Morgead's dad could sleep through anything.

The end result of the porridge was a bowl full of grey looking lumpy glue. Morgead ate it, not really caring about the mildly burnt taste. He was thinking about Jez. He needed a plan just in case she was reaped. What could he do…?

Toby Blackthorn finally awoke to the sound of Mr Newman screaming in his sleep once again. Death and destruction he said? It was the reaping day for crying out loud!

He pushed aside the curtains that kept his corner private and immediately wished he'd woken sooner. He could smell his son's porridge, and Toby nearly puked with the memory of last time Morgead had made breakfast.

Toby sat down at the table slowly and slid his bowl over to his place. He looked at the bowl and retched. Thankfully his son was too deep in thought to notice. Finally, he decided he would leave it; he could make up an excuse.

Morgead put his coat on. He had a plan now, a plan that would make sure that whatever happened today, or in the next three years, Jez would live a long, happy life. His father was going to walk with him to the square. Mr Newman normally found his way there by himself, so Toby and Morgead weren't worried about that. But there was a general sense of fear, even greater than normal. Peacekeepers patrolled up and down every street, and there were so many surrounding the square that it took both father and son ten minutes to make it through. Morgead guessed they weren't taking any chances. The year before the female tribute had escaped, but had then been shot.

Morgead didn't want to sit, so he stood. Last night already seemed an eternity ago. The sense of peace and happiness that Jezabel always bought with her seemed like a distant memory. All he knew was now, and the fear and worry that came with it. He made sure that he could see Jez from where he was stood. The fear became more and more immediate with every step that their escort, Marcus Lightfoot, took. His name seemed almost funny to Morgead now. Every step thundered through his head, reminding him that in a matter of minutes, Jez could be safe for another year, or she could be stood on that platform with the noose practically around her neck.

And when Marcus called her name, it didn't even seem like a surprise. All he felt was the sadness in his stomach grow. When he volunteered, he held Jez's lock of hair in his fist.

**BTW, the stream described is a real place in my village, but there are just fields beyond the fence. And Morgead is very sensible to not go on that branch; I shake like hell whenever I attempt to walk it. And falling in the stream is NOT fun. Neither is telling people there are leaches in it, if you're reading this, Ruby.  
>And thank you to my last English teacher, Mrs Wyatt, who has rather unfairly decided to retire. The only thing I think I learnt from your lessons last year is that if somebody is found guilty of a crime and their sentence is execution, the word is 'Hanged' not 'Hung'. <strong>


	6. Reapings for Seven and Eight

**OK, I put seven and eight together. Hope that's OK! Thanks for all the reviews and PM's guys!  
><strong>**Sponsor points:**_**Thelosthungergames-50, Slytheringirlforlife-50, Unkwown123-100, Paranormalcy-340, Secret. Vampress-45, OpsieDaisy-50, Livinginthemovies-60, Poetintraining-100, HighOnSky-30**_

Jazz opened her eyes as quickly as she could. She'd had the nightmare again. Her dad stepped in front of her, protecting her from the thugs in their way. He tried to walk past, ignore them, but they still came, punching him, until his body was disfigured and covered in blood. Jazz had done everything she could over the years to forget his dying look but it was waiting for her every time she closed her eyes.

"Jazz! Will you help me?" It was Kory from across the room. Sometimes he had trouble getting his trousers on, because of his leg. There had been an accident at their lumber factory a few years back and now Kory was crippled for life.

"Sure" Jazz replied, walking across the room. Kory shot her a grateful look once the trousers were on right.

"You ought to get your reaping clothes on. Udonis didn't wake us up. We need to leave in the next fifteen minutes" Kory said as he walked outside. That's where he spent all his time. Jazz bit her lip. She didn't have any dresses to wear. They'd get caught in the machinery normally. Then a thought struck her, maybe it was disrespectful, but it was her only option…

All her parents' belongings had been left in the tiny room they used to share. She walked nervously over to her mother's clothes chest. The air in the room was still and dead and Jazz felt the urge to run out, but that was just silly. The chest lid swung open easily and it didn't take Jazz long to find a dress, in fact, it was the only dress in the chest. The dress was long, but she was much taller than her mother so it probably wouldn't reach her feet, and it was sky blue with tiny little pearl like beads on it. Then Jazz realised that there was a reason she'd never seen her mother wear it when she was healthy. It was her wedding dress, and guilt ripped through her. But it was all she had so Jazz reluctantly put it on.

When she walked into the main room, Udonis clearly knew it was their mother's wedding dress, but didn't say anything. Kory complimented her unknowingly.

Jazz walked through their factory to get to the square quicker; she said she'd meet Lettie there early.

To get to the square, and pretty much anywhere else in District seven, you have to walk through the woods. The whole of district seven is basically a giant forest, but it's the best place in the world. If you can get away from the noise of the factories, then the whole forest seems silent apart from the rushing of the trees. The smell is the best bit. It smells fresh and slightly damp, and like mud and trees. But as soon as Jazmine saw the square, the illusion of peace shattered.

"Lettie!" She called as she saw her friend waiting on the fold-up chairs. Lettie saw her too and patted the empty seat next to her. Jazz saw that she'd been biting her nails again.

"Oh, Hey Jazz. I'm really scared. Kyla is in the reaping this year; mum'll lose it if she gets reaped"

"Yeah, Kory too. If he gets reaped I don't know what chance he'll have, with his leg. I think I'd volunteer for him"

"He wouldn't let you" Jazz frowned. She knew it was true. Their escort, Calpurnia, pushed aside their mayor and stood in the very middle of the stage.

"Hello!" She stuck her long fingers into the bowl, and the square was silent with anticipation.

"Jazmine Carver!" Jazz jumped in her seat. Her? She turned to see her brothers, Udonis was looking at her with pity, and Kory stared at her with fear. Jazz realised she had to win. For them.

**District 8 reaping**

Jade struck her sister across the cheek. She'd been screaming and Jade had found it annoying. Besides, it would do Maria good to be hit, her parents had hit her, and she'd turned out all right. There, that was right. Maria had sucked it all in.

"That'll teach you to wake me up in the morning. Only babies scream. You're not a baby are you?" Jade asked. Maria shook her head, holding back tears.

Maria made Jade crazy. Her parents didn't _need _another child. Maria was just a waste of food and space. She knew Maria would begin crying when she left the room, but at least she wouldn't bother her. Besides, today was her big day. Today she would volunteer and when she came back from the Hunger Games, everyone would be afraid of her.

"Jade! Maria! Get here _now_" Jade's mother screamed. Jade walked confidently towards her mother's voice. Today they would be proud of her. Maria shuffled nervously behind her older sister. Their mother was waiting impatiently down the hallway.

"Now, Maria, you can't do us proud today, you won't be able to for a few years, so don't expect any respect until then." Livi Hunt turned to her oldest daughter. "And you Jade, you will volunteer, and then you will win. Got it?"

"Yes mother!" Jade answered excitedly. Their mother narrowed her eyes.

"Good. Your father went to the trouble of buying you a new dress Jade. You better wear it" Her mother threatened as she handed Jade an old hessian bag.

Jade tried it on in her room. That was good, none of the boys would be able to kill her, and she looked far too sexy for them to do anything but fall at her feet. But then Jade started. There were no shoes in the bag, her father must've forgotten! She could _murder _him! Did he think a pair of matching high heeled red shoes was going to just fall out of the sky? Jade screamed and searched for the shoes she kept under her bed. They shouldn't have gone with the skimpy red dress at all, but the big black army boots gave it certain…._quality_. She still looked sexy, but, with a sort of I-don't-care look. That's what she needed to look like. And then it'd be to late when the tributes discovered she _did _care. And she could kill to prove it.

The square was busy, but the people weren't. They were terrified. Jade laughed at them, the Games were about to make her life bliss!

Jade had never liked Quintus Prince, but this year he was the bringer of glory, her glory. She waited impatiently on the edge of her seat for the mayor and Quintus to stop talking nonsense and get on with the reapings. Quintus dug in the reaping bowl for one slip of paper, and he took an awfully long time about it as well. Jade didn't listen to who was reaped, she didn't even register a child's sob. She stood up tall, her chair crashing to the floor.

"I volunteer!" Jade cried proudly. She walked up to the stage whilst her friends cheered her on. She looked directly at the camera. That's right, she had to unnerve them. Show them that she knew what to do. And how to win. Her mentor was Aimée Bedell. She'd won two years ago when she was 14, so now she was 16. Even younger than she was. Jade wouldn't need her, she could win this thing.


	7. District Nine

**Thank you to Paranormalcy, who helped me so much with this beginning part of the story, whilst I was suffering from a fatal case of writers block. You're getting serious brownie points for this! And sorry I took so long to update. My pathetic excuse is school and lack of creativity. Hope this OK, and not to rushed-like.**

Tane checked himself over in his family mirror one last time. He decided he looked good. He heard District nine's famous church clock strike the hour. It was time. Most people in district nine would know what that meant, except for the very young and possibly Grandma Olive. It meant the start of the Hunger Games. The Hunger Games. The very name made Tane shudder. All that the name meant to him was death. In nine, another way of saying 'Passed Away' was 'Lost the Games'.

Tane was terrified, and even worse, he was ashamed he was terrified. But he had reason to be ashamed. He was a dignified male! He knew he should walk to the square fearlessly, but he also knew that he wouldn't.

He was pretty happy with his life, he'd just got an apprenticeship with the butcher, and seeing as this was district nine, he'd soon be making lots of money. He had a family, his little brother Cael and older sister Sash, and of course, his mum and dad. And he had a girlfriend…at least, he thought he did. Brita was the most amazing, yet most confusing girl in the entire district. Did she like him, did she not? She was nice to him, she hugged him, and kissed him on the cheek, he kissed her back, to try and encourage her, but she never went further, and she seemed to ignore Tane's attempts to push their relationship further. But Tane knew that he loved her. And he knew that someday, one day, he'd make sure that she knew that too.

Once Tane was out on the street his fancy clothes felt more silly than special. He just knew his friends would make fun at the first possibility. Tane turned his head down the other end of the street. Oh great, looks like the first possibility. Tane's best friend, Arden, was swaggering down the road.

"Ha! Great gear Tane!" Arden threw his head back and laughed. Tane laughed nervously with him.

"So how'd you get out of the fancy suit?" Tane, as he surveyed Arden's black jeans and shirt. Arden grinned mischievously.

"Ma won't find out until I'm stood on that stage shaking hands with the mayor"

"You're volunteering?" Tane asked in a state of shock, as they began to walk towards the Justice Building. Arden shrugged casually.

"Maybe" Tane relaxed. Arden wouldn't try anything, he was a coward.

"Oh" Tane smiled and nodded. They were much closer to the centre of district nine now, and there were lots of people milling about in their best dress. Arden tapped Tane on the shoulder.

"Hey, Janie's over there. I'm gonna go talk to her, just in case" Arden ran off as quickly as he'd appeared, flashing a smile at Tane before turning his attention to the lovely Janie. Tane looked around for any of his friends; he looked like a loner standing here by himself. In the end he found a whole cluster of boys he was friendly with.

"Hey guys" He said as he approached. They turned and with a start Tane realised that Brita was with them, just as he was thinking it seemed odd for her to be hanging out with them, she was hugging him. Tane turned an embarrassing shade of red and hugged her back. Brita pulled away first, her face also red. Tane laughed a bit when he saw the boys' faces looking at him.

"What're you doing here?" Tane asked Brita. Brita stood up straighter.

"I'm allowed to talk to them" She said stiffly.

"I know but…" Tane trailed off and Brita walked away.

"What did she want?" Tane asked his friends.

"No way, man. She said she'd kick us where it hurt if we told you, but hell, it'd be worth it! The look on your face would be priceless!" Mark told him. He was quickly silenced by other boys who didn't wish to feel the same pain. Tane shrugged unwillingly at their silence and sat down to wait for the reapings to begin.

With every droning word their mayor let out, the knot in Tane stomach tightened. This happened every year, but so far, he'd stayed safe. He caught his bothers eyes, and then looked out for his sister. Sash looked ten times as worried as he probably did. Tane felt he couldn't even laugh at District Nine's escort this year. Something bad was about to happened.

"Cael Edenwell!" There it was. The something bad. Cael had barely even stood up before Tane called out.

"I volunteer!" He heard someone scream 'No!' from another pen. He didn't need to look to know it was Brita. Tane felt a stab of guilt at hurting her.

The stage floor creaked. Tane was scared; he would've thought the knot of worry would've disappeared now that Cael was safe. But still something bad was going to happen…Well of course it was! Tane told himself. He was going into the games! He was going to _die_.

"Brita Crystalwick!"The knot disappeared and Tane felt all that he'd lost. Not only his life, but Brita's too. He'd have to die so she could win. They could never be together now…

"No! Don't let her! I volunteer! I volunteer!" Tane knew the voice from his childhood. It was Cynth, Brita's older sister. Tane knew it was bad, but he felt hope. Maybe Brita wouldn't die!

"No!" Brita's voice echoed. "Not if you ever want to speak to me again you don't, Cynth" Tane was once again filled with sorrow as he watched Cynth shrivel up at Brita's little threat. So this was it.

He was going into the games, and he was going to make sure he didn't win.


	8. A Shy Girl  District Ten

**Again apologies for the delay in updating. Although you'll get a break in a bit. For some unknown reason I wrote the reapings of district eleven and district twelve first (?) so you won't have to wait long for **_**that **_**update. I have a German exchange partner visiting on Thursday, so I don't know how often I'll be able to get onto the computer whilst she's here. If you're wondering, she leaves on the next Thursday so I can be back sat at my laptop with the curtains drawn, hunching over the little screen late into the night again to get you more of the story. (I don't really sit at my laptop with the curtains drawn, hunching over the little screen late into the night. That was a joke)**

Dove had been working on the farm this morning for only minutes, but she already felt the calming presence of the animals soothe her. Chickens were first for her. She and her siblings were supposed to collect the abundance of eggs, but Dove was lucky if any of her brothers or sisters deemed to get out of bed before nine.

Dove had hoped that maybe she'd have some company today. She hoped that the reapings would set her family on edge and they would be forced to do something productive, preferably helping her out. But if anything, the fear of the reapings made them cower in their bedrooms longer.

Above the sounds of clucking hens Dove could hear her father whistling as he worked. First and foremost Dove's father, Ray, was a farmer, who supplied milk and eggs, and chicken and beef when the time came. But he was also handy with his hands and a carving knife. It wasn't unusual for him to stay up late in into the night making knick-knacks and statues and jewellery for his family and wife. Dove absent minded wondered what he was making today.

Reaping day was always a hard one for her parents. This year they had five children in the reaping, including her. Their family was a large one, and much more vulnerable than many other families in district ten.

Dove felt another presence at the chicken coop entrance. She assumed it was one of her siblings.

"Dove?" It was her younger brother, Aiden. "Can I help? I'm scared" Dove nodded and gave him a quick smile. Aiden full on beamed. He liked his quiet sister best. She was calm and nice to be around, not like some of his other older sister, take Dusk and Dawn for example. They were always teased and up to something, they made Aiden nervous and put him on edge. Aiden was slower at finding eggs, but he found it comforting all the same. Maybe he should do this more often.

"What if I get reaped?" Aiden asked.

"You won't" Dove whispered back. "What are the chances?" Aiden nodded.

"You're right. And-and even if I am reaped, Greg will probably volunteer. He hates it here" Aiden said to reassure himself. Greg was their older brother. He hated District ten, and the farm. He would be more than willing to go into the hunger games.

Just as Dove was finishing off the eggs, she heard singing, which meant only one person and one thing. That meant their older sister Ona was coming to take them to the square and that meant that the reaping day was beginning. Dove wondered who would be sentenced to death from district ten this year.

Ona brought all her siblings to the reapings so that their parents could squeeze in a few more minutes of work. Dawn and Dusk, Dove seventeen year old sister walked to the square as if they couldn't care less. Greg swaggered there and Ona held both Hope and Vee's hands. Hope, Vee and Belle were all too young to be reaped, but they were forced to attend anyway

The family quietly dispersed when they reached the pens. Dove knew where her pen was, but she only moved towards it when she was sure she could see Austin. Austin was Dove's best friend. He was the only one in her over-crowded school that had bothered to get to know her, and he was the only one other than her brothers and sisters who protected her from the bullies. Austin had always told her that they were jealous of her striking white hair.

"Heya Dove!" He called. "Good morning?" He asked. Dove nodded, then remembering that Austin was always nagging at her to speak more she said,

"Yes. Aiden came and helped me with the eggs"

"Aiden? He the best out of all of your brothers I reckon." Dove smiled and tried to shrink into herself as she watched Janice Boulogne stride past her

Janice had bullied Dove since she could remember. Whatever it was about Dove, it really rubbed Janice the wrong way. Janice couldn't even pass Dove in the hallways without making a snarky comment.

Just as Dove thought she was safe, Janice paused and turned to look at her.

"Oh look, it's Dove and her boyfriend. Bet you wish Austin was a _cow, _don't you? Like all your other friends on your farm. Shame you don't have any _real _ones" Austin gave her the evils.

"Shove off, Jan" He said firmly whilst shooting Dove a concerned glance. Dove _would not_ burst into tears, she told herself. Of course, it was fruitless and she did so anyway. Janice left them, laughing.

"Come on now, Dove. You're amazing, and _I'm _your friend" Dove tried to smile at him and tell him she was fine, but their escort was already striding onto the make-shift stage.

Accalia Muse had purple skin this year, definitely better than the sludge green she displayed the last.

The tension built in Dove's stomach. Suddenly, the odds did not seem so in her favour, she was certain her name would be picked out of the bowl. Dove looked at Austin and felt immediately calmed. He wasn't worrying. He seemed cool and calm. Dove decided to try that too.

"And our female tribute this year is…." There was a pause in which all the terror and fear and worry which Dove had been able to put into the corner of her mind managed to fight its way back into the pit of her stomach. "…Dove Ellis!" Dove began crying, sobbing. Neither Dusk nor Dawn volunteered for her; she was going into the Hunger Games and she had no illusion that she would win. She was too weak. Maybe she could try, or at least pretend for her family's sake. The honest truth was that she didn't have a single idea of how she was going to survive. To make matters worse, the male tribute was a boy named Dexton. Maybe he didn't bully Dove as much as Janice, but he certainly didn't like her. Without a doubt, Dove was in big trouble


	9. District Eleven

**OK, all finished! I did both of tribute's for this reaping, they were both really interesting. Both tributes are getting some sponsor points for this. **

The room was small, but Allie's window was open, and light and fresh air breezed in. Allie liked the mornings best, her room seemed magical and clean. When Allie had been small she used to hide under her coves at night because the eerie moonlight against the dark carpets freaked her out and created shadows that looked _exactly _like Claudia Heart's silhouette. This morning Allie didn't have much time to look around her room and smile, to wake up slowly. Someone was shaking her awake.

"Allie! Allie, wake up! It's the morning!" Allie reluctantly opened her eyes fully to the blinding sunlight pouring in through the window. There was a small silhouette blocking out most of her vision.

"Kate?" She asked drowsily, rubbing her eyes. Kate was Allie's hyperactive, sweet little sister. Everyone loved her.

"Of course, silly! It's time to get up; we need to be at the square in two hours!" Kate was excited, but the reminder made Allie's stomach drop. Kate didn't understand. Of course, it was reaping day. "Jack told me to go away when I went to wake him up, I think he was crying" Kat confessed quietly. Jack was twelve now, and eligible to be reaped. Allie loved her little sister Kate, she was so happy and talkative, even in the harvest season when the peacekeepers had her working from dawn to dusk. "Do you like my new dress?" Kate stepped back from the bed and twirled as she changed the topic. The dress was anything but new. It had been Allie's a few years before, and before that…well. Let's just say it was very old. But it fitted her perfectly. It was pale pink with a green hem. This year Allie was wearing one of her mother's dresses, which was a bit big, but she didn't mind. It was probably the prettiest thing she'd ever owned. A yellow dress that reached the floor, it made Allie sad to know it would be ruined at the end of the day, dragging half the fields of District Eleven on the bottom.

"It's lovely Kate. You should get some breakfast down you; you don't want to be hungry at the reaping" Kate skipped off, happy in her own world and Allie lifted herself out of bed. No sooner was Allie dressed, than Jack came running into her room.

"Allie, Mum wants you in the kitchen now" Jack ran out again, not wanting to stay in Allie's tiny corner of the house any longer than he had too. Probably worried about catching Allie's 'Girl Germ's'. Allie walked only a few steps down the corridor until she reached her kitchen/dining room/living room. The room was large and warm, and most definitely Allie's favourite room.

"Oh good, you're up. Charlie and I might be late for the reaping. Kate managed to get a tear in her dress, and we'll leave at the last minute so I can sew it up. You couldn't take Jack up with you now, could you?" Her mother, Claire, pleaded with her.

"Oh yeah. Sure" Allie agreed.

**Jack** kept his face straight. He didn't seem to acknowledge any emotion. Allie remembered feeling like that on her first reaping day. If she cried, if she shouted, if she made any noise at all, well…she didn't actually know what would happen. But it felt right. So when Claudia Heart called out her name, Allie just smiled sweetly. It felt right.

**The** scratchy blankets woke Cole up, that and the crying children in the room next to his. It wasn't even his room, it was the boys room for 14-17 year old. They kicked you out on your eighteenth birthday.

Cole had to get up earlier than the other boys, he had a little brother so he had to make sure that he actually got some food at the battle which they called breakfast. Well, he said _had. C_ole could leave his brother Sam to fend for himself each morning, but Cole couldn't abandon him like that. Not like his mother had.

Cole and Sam's mum had committed suicide five years ago after their father had been whipped to death. Cole could never forgive her for that. Thankfully Sam couldn't remember much, he'd only been two at the time and Cole was the only one who ever really looked after him properly.

Cole walked into the younger boys room, smiling as he remembered sleepless nights playing Truth or Dare with his friends. The smile vanished as he remembered that half of his friends were dead now, that or disappeared in the night. Sam was already up and dressed, waiting for his big brother on his bed. Cole ruffled his hair with a painted smile. Today was reaping day, the scariest day of the year, and not just for the usual reasons most kids were scared of it for. If Cole was reaped then Sam's chances of survival past the orphanage dwindled into single digits.

"C'mon kid. Lets get down there before everyone else, eh?" Sam nodded and followed his brother down the cheap wooden stairs. They weren't the only ones who tried to get down there first, but Cole was bigger than most other kids, he could push his way through, fight if he had to, to get food for himself and Sam. Cole could even go as far as to call himself freakishly tall. He was 6 foot three at only sixteen and he towered over all the other kids at the orphanage, all the grown-up's who worked there too.

As a kid he'd never shown sign's of growing to this height. He'd always been an average height, until the age of ten, when he started growing at an abnormal rate. Some of the other boys used to make him stand still to see if they could see him growing.

As Cole watched his little brother eat some food, he relaxed. Surviving the first part of the day? Check. The Reaping? Cole gulped.

The swell of children was lead to the square by Nurse Hannah. Nurse Hannah was one of the nicer matrons, which meant she wasn't a cruel psychopath. It was her job to make sure that the kids eligible for reaping made their ways to their pens, and to drill fear into the rest of the kids that were too young.

Cole flashed a nervous grin at his friend, Skyrah. She was pretty, and he'd had a crush on her for a year or two now. He hoped she wasn't reaped, he didn't have so many friends now.

The female tribute was thankfully not Skyrah. It was a merchants daughter called Allie, Cole imagined giving her the finger as she ascended the steps to the stage. Rich girls like her made him sick. Although he admired her courage. Most girls broke into tears when they heard their name, this Allie girl only smiled sweetly.

His stomach filled with panic when his name was called. He made eye contact with Skyrah quickly. They'd made a deal. If Skyrah was reaped Cole would look after her little sisters, and if Cole was reaped she'd look after Sam. She gave the barest hint of a nod and Cole relaxed the tiniest bit. She walked up the stage, ready to shake hands with Allie. She was still smiling sweetly, it looked friendly, but when he shook hands with her, she squeezed it a little too much for friendliness. Her smile became almost mocking and she raised her eyebrows at him. Cole looked her over cautiously reminded himself to put her straight to the top of his list of people to watch out for in the arena. Cole didn't like the way she was almost mocking him.

Killing Allie? No way on earth was she going to make it easy.


	10. District 12

**So yeah, two in one day! I'm trying to make up for the lack of updates recently. I'll start on the train journey now, I'll only do one chapter on that, because it's not particularly interesting, I'm not doing the goodbye's at all. On the train journey the two tributes from each district will get the chance to talk to each other and get to know each other, which should be mildly interesting if you asked for your character to have a romance with their fellow tribute.**

When Eliana woke up the first thing she saw was her mother opening her new pink curtains. They were an apology present that her mother had made out the leftover material from her old dress. An apology for having ten tesserae in the reaping. Business had not been so good in the last year, and they could do with the food. But Eliana hated the curtains, they reminded her that she wasn't safe, but at least it was only her that wasn't safe. Genny was safe, she only had her name in once, the chances that she would be picked were so miniscule that it was practically impossible.

"Good morning, Ellie" Her mother turned and smiled at her, kissing her forehead. Eliana smiled back. Her mother was always optimistic, even when Eliana felt like crying.

"Morning" Eliana stretched her arms above her head and yawned as she threw aside her duvet. Her mother left the room silently and Eliana sat on the edge of her bed, her toes just skimming the floor, letting the feeling of dread gather in the pit of her stomach, like stones dropping in a pool. Today was Reaping Day, and this time tomorrow she could be waking up in a capitol bed. Her mother had laid out Eliana's best dress on the end of her bed; it was light green and reached just above her knees, and went beautifully with the black tights that she'd got for her birthday once She wouldn't normally wear all this, but today was definitely not normal. If she was reaped she wanted to make a good impression on the Capitol audiences.

Eliana got dressed as fast as she could and ran down the stairs. Her father was eating bread, with jam on, and her mother was stitching up an old dress of someone's. Her mother and father ran a tailor business, and Zenny Maserly stitched up old clothes for a small fee. The dress she was repairing now was probably for today. Genny was nowhere to be seen, so she was probably still asleep.

"Shouldn't someone wake Genny?" Eliana asked, grabbing some bread that her father had finished toasting over the gas fire. Eliana's mother shook her head at the idea.

"Best to let her sleep in if she can" Eliana's mother's voice was kind and her father grunted in agreement. Ellie took a bite of her toast.

**Genny** and Eliana held hands as they walked towards the square. Genny's eyes were red and puffy. She'd been crying all night out of worry for her sister and only woke up half an hour ago. When they reached the square Genny separated from Eliana and stood with her mother where all the other adults and children that were too young to be reaped were. Eliana made her way nervously by herself to the female sixteen year old pen. She could see Bee crying, over in the fifteen year old pen. Everyone was silent for the mayor's speech. And then, just as Eliana was ready to fall asleep, Effie Trinket stepped on the stage. This year she had a bright blue wig on, with matching high heels that were so high, it was a miracle she could walk in them. She talked for five minutes, but Allie couldn't tell what she was saying through her Capitol accent. Next, the only live victor of District 12 stepped onto the stage. Katniss stood silently, only nodding when she was addressed. Eliana didn't remember Katniss' Hunger Games very well, just a few things. The little girl from District 11 swathed in flowers, Katniss and the boy, Peeta, kissing in the cave, and the mutts. The mutts with their Oh-So-Human eyes. And Peeta's look of serenity as he lay dead on the floor, after swallowing the berries by accident. And in her second games, Katniss' look of horror when she realised she stabbed Johanna Mason, Mags disappearing into the fog, the little girl's screams coming from the bird's throat.

"Ladies first!" Effie squealed like she always did. Eliana squeezed her eyes shut. Not her, not her, not-

"Eliana Maserly!" Eliana's stomach clenched, the stones that had dropped in her stomach earlier turned to liquid, and it was all she could do to keep it down. She walked to the stage, and stood there awkwardly whilst the male tribute was chosen.

"Clapton Limerick!" Eliana gasped. Clapton was the little boy that had been born two months before he should have been. It was a miracle he'd lived. But there was no way he would even survive the first five minutes of the games. He needed help carrying all his school books in case the effort wore him out and he fainted.

"I volunteer!" Eliana's eyes searched the crowd for the volunteer. It was a boy she recognised as Clapton's older brother, Jarsen. All the girls loved Jarsen, he was handsome and flirty, but Eliana doubted he liked them back.

Eliana shook hands with Katniss. Her eyes were grey, but they seemed to be on fire. The Girl On Fire, they called her. But Eliana couldn't decide whether the fire was determined, or sad, or angry. And just for a moment, Eliana wished that she wouldn't win the games. Once you were reaped you only had two options in life. To die, or to live with the shadow of guilt and sadness living over you. Jarsen shook hands with Katniss second, and he seemed taken-aback, scared, like Eliana had been. Then Eliana was shocked again, as she shook hands with Jarsen. His grip was too firm, like he wanted to squeeze the blood out of her there and then and be done with a tribute. But the terrifying thing was his stare. It was determined. Jarsen had nothing against her, but he was determined to come back alive. For a moment, Eliana was scared, maybe Jarsen saw it in her eyes, because he gave the barest hint of a smile, but then Eliana returned his steely glare. She had everything she needed to make it back herself. And she wasn't going to give in so easily.


	11. Train Journey

**Ok, there you are. Next up is the training session, I don't want to spend too much time in the capitol, so I'm just going to do the training, and the interviews then straight to arena. **

The train was nice. It had a thick, blue carpet and white-washed walls. Silver was impressed.

He'd said goodbye to his mother only an hour ago, but already she was disappearing from his mind. Now all he could think of was the food. In half an hour, maybe, he would be sat at a table full of delicious food. The very thought made him nauseous.

The down side was that his fellow tribute from district one was Stacey Hale. Stacey was overweight because her family was far richer than many others in One. She was also known as Glitter's sister. Glitter was definitely the best-looking girl in district one, but Silver didn't care, because he was going to kill Stacey and then there was no way that Glitter would ever look at him, not that he wanted her too. The only reason she wasn't as disgusting as her sister was that she was pretty.

Stacey eyed Silver over the table. He made his distaste for her obvious, but Stacey didn't care. She'd never seen the beggar before in her life and he seemed like a jerk anyway. She didn't think she could kill anyone, not even Silver, but she imagined that other people wouldn't find it hard. Besides, if he was planning on lugging that ego around with him to entire time then eventually it would catch up with him

Stacey was still upset; she kept on bursting into tears, but she's found out how to stop it, at least for a while. You needed to think about something else. Concentrate on a different emotion, or problem.

**At** the goodbye's Corey's father had given him a judgemental eye and told him 'I told you so'. But Corey had been to busy thinking about ways to help Roxana win the games to take much notice.

Now on the train Corey was just about to knock on Roxana's door. He could hear her sobbing and crying, and in the end her decided to just open the door.

"Ana? Roxana?" He asked gently. Roxana gave him one look and began crying some more. Corey put his arm around her, feeling an odd mix of sympathy for her, and joy at being to close to her.

"I-" Roxana breathed in sharply as she began to descend into hysteric's. "I don't want to kill you! I don't want to kill anybody!"Corey hugged her.

"It's OK, you don't have to kill me, or anybody. I'll get them all for you, eh?"

"No you won't! You'll just let them win like you do with me!" said Roxana. Corey blushed. She'd noticed that he let her win? Oh damn. But Corey just laughed to hide his embarrassment. "And anyway, then I'd be just me and you. I don't want another Katniss-Peeta end. I don't want you to die!"

"Let's not think about that, huh? You're strong enough. How about an alliance? We're both friends, _best _friends" Corey emphasised. "And we're stronger than all the others, we've been training our entire lives." Roxana nodded, wiping her tears away. She looked a bit better, trying to smile if only for Corey's sake. Corey smiled back and hugged her again, hoping there'd be plenty more opportunities for all this hugging. He needed to make sure he stuck to his own advice, and not think about how one, if not both of them would be dead in a matter of of months, weeks.

**Ebony **was painting her fingernails black again. The Peacekeepers were really stupid, they let her get on the train with the little bottle hidden in her underwear. She should've brought explosives or something, that would've been fun.

The male tribute for her district had been a boy called Electric. He was a few years older than her and she'd heard rumours about him being a genius. She didn't doubt them, half the population of District three _were_ genius's. But they said he was cleverer than most. Still, Ebony didn't give one about him and his clever little brain. Brains don't win the games, she though coyly to herself. I do. Ebony smiled, picturing herself killing the other tributes, and being showered with riches when she returned.

Damn! The nail polish had spilt onto the carpet. There was a huge black spot on the floor. Ebony looked around the room desperately. There! A carpet was in the corner. She dragged it over the spot and the floor was good as new.

**R**osemary jumped when someone cleared their throat from the doorway.

"What?" She asked, before she turned properly to see who it was. She raised her eyebrows when she saw it was Shiloh Storm, the other tribute from District Four. "What do you want?"

"Me?" He asked. He mocked thinking. "Ice-Cream, one of these trains, a dog, and a one-way ticket out of these games" he laughed a his own joke, but Rosemary waited patiently for the real answer. Shiloh raised his eyebrows. "It's not me, it's Aengus. He wants us in the 'dining hall' for food, I suggest you get down there pronto. He says he wants 'A big, team discussion'. You coming?" Rosemary stayed still on the floor for a moment.

"OK" they walked down the hallway together. Rosemary held onto the train wall when the train jerked..

"There you are!" Aengus cried when he saw the enter the room. "OK, Have you met your mentors? Rose, can I call you Rose? This is Tess." Tess offered her hand to Rosemary.

"Hi Honey. Hope you're ready for hell on earth" Tess winked good-naturedly, but didn't smile.

"Yes..." Aengus said, painting on a smile. "And Shiloh, this is the famous Finnick Odair!" Aengus clearly expected Shiloh to say something, to bow in his presence.

"Hey" Shiloh said.

"I like this one" Finnick joked. "How're you, then Tess? You seen the reapings?" Finnick asked, separating himself from their conversation, which annoyed Aengus greatly.

"Yeah, who're you betting on this year?"

"Well, there's the kids from two, they look tough enough, or the ones from nine. But I think my friend here has a good chance."

"Yeah. Did you see that one from ten? Poor thing" Finnick only laughed. Shiloh gave Rosemary a look and laughed.

**Blade **felt sorry for Daisy. The girl looked lost at the vast table of food. He had to admit, he was a bit too. He didn't know what half the stuff in front of him was. He mostly lived on a diet of bread, rice and pasta. Sometimes some sort of meat if he could persuade Meaty Joe to sell him some.

"there's some bread and butter there" Blade pointed to the girl. "And a plate of fruit there, see? And there's meat over here..." 

"I'm a vegetarian" Blade blinked at her. She didn't eat meat? Well, her loss.

Daisy liked Blade, despite his scary name he was really friendly and nice. They'd spent an hour looking out the window. They'd seen three districts. Blade thought they were Seven, Ten and Two. Daisy had liked Seven best, it was just a slightly woody area, it _was _a wood, a forest even. They'd thought it was just a large bunch of conifer trees, until Blade had spotted a building.

"C'mon Daisy. Eat up! You want to have big strong muscles when it comes to the games, don't you?"

"Well, yeah. But I don't want to go into the games at all"

"Who does?"

"**I** can't believe you did that! I thought I told you not to do anything stupid!" Jez screamed, tears streaming down her face.

"Preserving your life isn't stupid! I can't just let you die!"Morgead protesting, reaching out to touch her arm.

"You could have done! And then you would have lived! We're both going to die now!" Jez stepped away from him.

"Jez, please. If I find a way out, we're taking it. And if there isn't a way out, we're going to go through the Games, and then you're going to go home and live a long happy life." Jez sighed.

"Can we please not talk about it? Please?" Jez pleaded. Morgead nodded and hugged her.

Jazmine tied her hair up in a high ponytail. She studied herself in the mirror on the train wall. What was that behind her?

"Dad...?" She asked, trembling. She spun around on the balls of her feet, but there was no one there. She breathed out in a sigh of relief and closed her eyes. The visions were going to be worse in the arena, the nightmares more viscous. They always were worse when she was stressed, but the arena was a naturally evil place.

Her room on the train was large, and fancy. There were heaters under the floor that made her feet tingle when she walked barefoot in the thick white carpets.

Jazz sat on her bed, swinging her leg. Bored, bored, bored...Maybe she should go talk to Fir. He was the boy who'd been picked, and he was alright. Jazz knew him vaguely from school. His room was right next to hers and he seemed just as bored as her when she strode into the room.

"Hey Fir. You OK?" She asked as she sat down on the bed.

"Ha! I wish. No way am I OK. I've been thinking too much about it, the games, the arena, bleeding, death. That kinda thing. It really gets you down."

"Well you're cheerful! Nah, you just have to think about happy things. Butterfly's, Conifer trees, Friends, family..." Fir shrugged.

"I have two little sisters, and two older ones. Birch, Carolina, Climba and Reya. Climba and Reya are seventeen and sixteen, man, do I get tired of their talk. They're always yapping about clothes and boys and stuff. Birch and Carolina are alright though."

"I have two brothers. Kory and Udonis"

"Oh yeah? I know. Kory's that kid that got caught in the machinery, and Udonis...Hey, so you're the girl that owns her own factory?" Jazz blushed.

"It's not just mine. It belongs to Udonis and Kory too."

"Yeah, but your dad's will said _Jazmine. _Not Udonis, not Kory."

"How do0 you know so much about my Dad's legal rights?" Fir gave an elusive smile and raised his eyebrows teasingly. Jazz only rolled her eyes.

**Jade **was looking for Budd. Budd was the other kid that had been chosen. If she didn't know that he was a weak-willed, stupid boy she might've been worried about his muscles and huge build. She wasn't worried though. She was going to scare him off before the games even began. All of a sudden, someone knocked into her. She nearly fell over but instead hit the person back ten times harder and they were the one to fall over.

"Oh, sorry Jade" It was Budd.

"There you are. I just wanted to check you'd been able to get into your room. You have problems with stuff like that, right?"

"What do you mean?"

"You have that issue with your weight? Don't you?" Budd's face instantly iced over.

"There's nothing wrong with me, I've just got big bones. I'm no different from anyone else"

"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

"Yes you did. I know about you jade. You're a cruel, sadistic, evil girl"

"Thank you for the compliment!" Jade smiled and walked away.

**Brita **had been avoiding Tane ever since they'd both been reaped. She knew Tane would be mad at her for not letting Cynth volunteer. But Cynth was her sister! Better her than Cynth. But the other part of the reason was that she was mad at him. He volunteered for Cael, and sure, she understood. Cael was his brother but she'd all but convinced his friends to volunteer if he was reaped. Mark wanted to anyway, she'd thought. But he'd put them off. Man, Tane could drive her crazy! He spent his time worrying about silly things, when she was trying to protect him from the capitol all the time.

She liked him, a lot. And he made no secret that he liked her. But she didn't want to encourage him too much, she'd always been scared of this sort of situation. Both headed for the Hunger Games. At least one of them destined to die. She sighed, maybe she should talk to him, it wasn't as if she could freeze him out for the entire games. She'd have to talk to him sometime.

Brita walked down to the dining room in search of company. Anyone would do, but preferably Tane. She'd convinced herself that she needed to talk to him desperately.

"Tane?" She called out to the empty room. She heard something crash and someone swear from a room beyond her vision.

"He's not here, lass! Off with ya, I'm trying to cook yer meal!" Brita scurried off in a hurry, not willing to anger the chef further.

Brita walked along the brightly lit corridor, looking back to the dining room, well, if she didn't find Tane before-

Brita fell over as she walked into someone. She quickly saw it was Tane.

"Oh! I've been looking for you! Tane, I'm-"

"What do you think you're doing? You should've let Cynth take your place!" Brita iced over at his anger.

"Maybe you should've let Cael go into the games" She retorted and Tane sighed, easily defeated.

"Ok, I get it. But now we're doomed!" Brita rolled her eyes and kept her mouth shut.

"Do you hear me? DOOMED!" Tane was nearly crying, bless him.

"Don't worry, I'm sure we'll figure something out"

"Pfft! Yeah right!" Tane was about to come up with some more to say, but Brita silenced him by kissing him on the lips.

**Dexton **bit his nails some more. It calmed him a little bit. His eyes hurt from crying, all his little sisters had been hugging him, and crying with him, even little Betty, who probably didn't even understand. His Ma had been crying too, telling him that he was a big, brave boy and he could make it out for them.

Big, brave mummy's boy

The female tribute was Dove Ellis, the weird kid with white hair. At least he wouldn't have to worry about _her _killing him. Her arms were as long and thin as a stick. She was her daddy's little girl. But then again, Dove probably wasn't too worried about him either.

Oh, jeez. He was scared. Scared, scared, scared, scared. It didn't even sound like a word anymore. The word itself scared him. Well, lots of things did. Fire, the dark, open spaces, fast moving objects, his dad. That was only a small piece of the list. He was in trouble, he'd got himself a one-way ticket to certain death. What did he expect? District Ten was a small district, and in the last few years there hadn't been many baby boys. Plus he'd had plenty of tesserae.

Tesserae. He'd noticed that only he'd had tesserae. Neither one of Helene or Ruth had any tesserae. Ma said it was because they're girls.

Oh man. What had he got himself into?

**Allie **hadn't stayed in her room at all. Cole had seen her go in, leave her token, and come back out again. Cole wanted to know what her token was. He wanted an advantage, and he was going to work to get it, because he didn't like the idea of sleeping in the same area as Allie. Maybe he could kill her before the games? In her sleep? But she'd more likely get him first. When had he become this paranoid?

Cole rooted through drawers and turned over carpets. He eventually found it under the mattress.

It was a small booklet type thing, a family tree inside. He flicked through the pages and watched the names with their pictures appear and disappear in the blink of an eye. _Oliver Pace m. Genevieve Laughlin, Frederick Collins m. Elize Kalnan. Charlie Pace m. Claire Collins, Jack, Kate, _and finally, _Allie Pace_. It went back centuries, and there were plenty of spare pages for future family members. An icy thought struck him cold. _Allie won't have any future family members._ He put the room back to its original condition, and was about to hide the book again, when he heard someone clear their throat from the doorway.

"Happy now?" Allie strode forward. "Give me that, you bastard " Allie put it back under the mattress and slapped him when she was done. Cole looked at her in surprise, he could feel the sting and shock still lingering on his face. And he couldn't think of a single goddamn thing to say.

"You could have asked. I'm a lot more kindly to _friendly, polite_ people than I am to _thieves_. Thought that it would give you some sort of advantage, did you? You make me sick." Cole laughed.

"Right back at you, rich girl" Allie moved her hand to slap her again, but Cole begged her with his eyes.

"I'm sorry, OK? I didn't mean to steal" And he was, kinda. Not because he'd upset her, well, not _much. _But because he was better than that.

"Oh, of course. Only borrowing. I see" Allie smiled at him again and Cole felt uneasy. But Allie seemed to have already moved on. "I don't care, and I know you want to kill me already, but a little _chivalry _won't do any harm" She smiled, not mockingly. "Cole, right?" She put her hand out, for a second time, and Cole took it. The malice of the previous shake was gone "Nice to meet you"

**Jarsen **knew the girl, Eliana. He'd followed her home once or twice, but not by choice. His friend Blake had a crush on her, and he'd often been the go-between. He doubted he remembered him much, she normally brushed aside the question Blake had asked him to ask her. He remembered she was very focused on her school work and not normally listening to him much.

He imagined that she wouldn't be particularly strong in the arena though, although he knew better than to underestimate her. Intelligence was just as important as strength. But Jarsen was confident, he had both.

He considered his options, would it do any good to try and talk to her? Maybe. He might get a better sense of how motivated she was, but he'd got most of that from the handshake earlier, after a mildly disturbing one from Katniss, the one that they'd shared had given him an idea of how driven she was. She'd seemed fairly determined to win, and she hadn't liked the look of triumph he'd allowed her to see.

In the end he decided to find Katniss, to get a head start on training, get some advice. She was sat watching the reapings from the day. She turned the television off when he entered the room.

"Yes?" She asked.

"I was wondering if you had any advice, for the arena. I wanted to get a head start" Katniss raised an eyebrow cynically.

"Stay alive" She told him, with a hint of a smirk as if it was a private joke. Jarsen tightened his lips in frustration. He wanted _real _advice, techniques, something that would help. "There's not much I can say. You'll know when you get into the arena. Now, I suggest you go wait in the dining room, the food'll come soon. I'll find Eliana and you can talk or whatever you do" Katniss left the room, presumably in search of Eliana, And, slightly humiliated, Jarsen found the dining room and sat down.

**Jarsen **scared Eliana slightly, but she wasn't going to let him see that. She knew she'd seen him before somewhere...Oh yes. That was it, his friend Blake was always wanting to know stuff about her and he sent his best friend, who was Jarsen. What was her middle name? When was her birthday? What were her siblings names? It was quite funny really. But she got the distinct impression that she was really beginning to annoy Jarsen. It was in the way he looked at her over the table. Eliana smiled.


	12. Training Session

The capitol was amazing, it was huge, bright and colourful. Rosemary had been bowled over by how loud and real it all was. Her bedroom had been amazing too, her bed was softer than the heather mattress she had back home, and the window gave a majestic view of the city, despite the fact she was only on the first floor. After breakfast, Rosemary would have her training with all the other tributes. She'd watched the reapings on the train, and she'd seen some pretty scary kids. The two kids from District Two looked pretty scary, as did the boy from One. She soothed herself by reminding herself they were all career districts too and she'd most likely be in an alliance with them. But the girl from Eight had given her the chills...She'd looked straight at her, straight into her soul it seemed. Rosemary shuddered.

"Rose? Time for breakfast!" sang Aengus from outside Rosemary's door. Rosemary rolled her eyes and opened the door moodily.

"Coming!" said Rosemary.

The breakfast table was just as covered in food as it had been when they arrived last night. Rosemary looked at it all greedily; her diet in Four was mostly seafood, with bread. She heaped croissants, bacon and toast onto her plate in no particular order, she grabbed anything that presented itself. Shiloh was doing the same across the table.

"So Finnick, what's my plan of action?" He asked, when he'd finished the particular piece of sausage he'd been eating.

"Well" Finnick said thoughtfully. "I always say scare the others off, use your strengths" Tess nodded from across the table.

"Yeah, you too Rosemary. And I suggest you and Shiloh keep together, find the other careers too." Tess paused for a second. "I think that's Stacey and Silver from One, and Corey and Roxana from Two."

"Get to know them, especially weaknesses, watch the stations they're not good at, or avoid" Finnick added. Rosemary looked about awkwardly, feeling as if she should be taking notes.

"Well then! If we're all finished, shall I take you down?" Aengus asked as he rose from the table. Shiloh got up from the table too, still chewing on an apple. Rosemary followed their lead and stood too.

"No thanks. We can find our way there ourselves" Shiloh left the room before Aengus could stop him and Rosemary hurried after him quickly, not pausing to look back at Aengus.

The doors opened for them and they walked in. There was only a few other people there, so Rosemary figured they must be early.

"What do we do?" Rosemary asked as she walked forward with Shiloh. He pointed.

"Spear first, we're from Four right? We've got it owned."

"Yeah, OK. But I'm better with daggers and swords."

"Whatever. You can use a spear though, right?"

"Of course" They walked to the spear station, much to the instructors delight.

By time they were done, the training hall was full. Rosemary hadn't been paying much attention before, but now she was scanning the room for the other careers. She spotted the pair from two having a go at the bow and arrow and pointed them out to Shiloh.

"Corey!" he called out to them "Roxana!" The boy and girl turned their heads sharply to see who was calling. Shiloh waved his hands in the air.

**R**oxana walked towards them with Corey. She knew them, they were from District Four. Rosie and...Something.

"Rosemary and Shiloh" Corey whispered, as he watched her frown.

"Hi" Roxana said to Rosemary. Corey nodded to Shiloh.

"Have you seen Silver or Stacey?" Corey asked.

"Oh yeah, Stacey's about and so's Silver. They don't look very..." Shiloh didn't know how to put it.

"Yeah, I know what you mean" said Corey.

"Might as well find them though, I'm assuming that they're still careers"

As they all walked off in search of Silver and Stacey, some long pointed fingernails grabbed Corey's sleeve. When he turned, he saw it was the scary girl from Eight.

"Oh, uh. Hey" he said.

"You're Corey right? From District Two?" She asked. Corey nodded.

"I want to join your alliance. The careers. I've been training my entire life for this." Corey didn't see a way out.

"Oh, yeah. Sure. We're looking for Stacey and Silver." Jade smiled. Part one of her plan was working just fine.

**Cole** was on the edible plants station. The only other one there was the girl, Dove. She was a bit weird, with her white hair and stuff, but Cole didn't have a problem with her. To him, she was just another poor kid stuck in these twisted games.

"Hey," Cole said in an attempt to start a conversation. "Er, so how come you don't talk so much?" Dove looked down a the ground.

"There is no point in saying anything...The Capitol will just take it all anyway..." Dove continued the work and Cole looked away. Okaay. That was awkward. Clearly this Dove girl was a real sad 'un.

"So...You good with berries and fruit and stuff?"

"No"

"Oh" Another awkward pause. "So what are you good at?"

"I'd rather not say"

"Oh yeah. Of course. Sure thing"

**J**azz kept on sneaking looks at the emo girl she was sharing a station with. Ebony or something. Jazz was trying to learn how to work a knife. She'd thought she had it, until Ebony came along. Ebony was amazing at it. The dummy she'd been practising on was in a heap on the floor with the stuffing falling out.

"What're you looking at?" Ebony demanded when she caught Jazz looking at her for about the sixth time.

"Uh, oh, nothing. Just...you're really good with that knife"

"Yeah. I know. I'm amazing and you're not, so what?" Jazz was taken aback.

"Well...nothing. That's it."

"Keep your eyes to yourself in future" Ebony said sharply, then threw the dagger straight into the heart of the dummy Jazz was practising with. Ebony strode over to collect the dagger.

Her eyes locked on the couple kissing in the corner,

"Get a room!" She screamed at them, she pointed her finger at them and the entire hall went silent as they watched the dark haired boy and redhead girl separate themselves from each other. Jazz heard Ebony snigger lightly. The redhead made her way over to Ebony.

"Shut up, you little bitch. Too bad you can't love" She hissed.

"Who needs love when you can make fun like this?" Ebony laughed and ran to another station. Jazz smiled sweetly at the redhead.

"I'd just ignore her" Jazz advised. The redhead nodded.

"Already on it"

Eliana had been watching Jarsen all morning, and he hadn't noticed. He was talking to the girl with the frizzy red hair. Eliana had got enough of his characteristics to know that he was probably trying to charm information about herself and the male tribute from her District out of her. Eliana smiled in the knowledge that he probably wouldn't have much luck, she'd seen her passionately kissing her district partner only minutes ago. Jarsen was out of luck.

She found herself walking towards him.

"You won't get anything out of her. Did you miss Ebony pointing her and her boyfriend out earlier?" Jarsen's face swept red.

"'Get anything out of her'? So I can't talk to people now, then?"

"Don't try that. I'm not stupid. You want information on her. Or more likely, her muscle packed boyfriend." Jarsen returned her steely gaze. So maybe she'd seen through him, but that wouldn't make him lose it. But she was good, no doubting it. Maybe he ought to switch tactics.

"Whatever. I saw you at the spear station, you were good. Think you could teach me something?" Jarsen lowered his voice slightly. Eliana narrowed her eyes at him.

"No thanks." She reached inside her jacket, presumably to an inside pocket. "And I found this over there as well. I saw you with it earlier so I thought it must be yours" Eliana produced a long, sleek peacock tail. Jarsen was momentarily shocked. He snatched the feather out of her hand and put it inside his own jacket.

"You stole my feather!" he accused.

"No! I told you, I found it over there. You must've left it there when you were over there fifteen minutes ago." Eliana gave the barest hint of a smile, letting Jarsen know that she saw through his flirting. Jarsen was speechless, he considered his options.

"Do you want to make an alliance?" He offered.

"Thought you'd never ask." Eliana smiled.

**T**ane was over the moon, he had been for almost 24 hours now. Ever since Brita had kissed him and let him know that she really did like him back. He knew that she was laughing at his utter joy, but he didn't care.

"What're you smiling about?" Someone asked friendlily. He turned to beam at at girl, who was about six inches shorter than him with auburn hair.

"Not much. My best friend" Tane jerked his thumb in the direction of Brita. "Kissed me." Allie smiled at him.

"That sounds like more than 'Not much'. Good for you, it's nice to see someone smiling. This place needs more love" Tane snorted.

"I think those two from Six do all the loving this place can handle! You got someone nice back in your district?" Allie shook her head.

"Nah, plenty of cute boys here though. Trouble is, the cute ones are the annoying ones"

"So there _is _someone nice? C'mon, spill the beans. I can't stand being all happy by myself!" Allie blushed.

"He might look good, but I don't trust him. Never mind." Allie walked away, mildly embarrassed, before Tane could ask any more questions. She'd nearly told him she thought - well, she didn't think that. Not _really. _Or did she?

**Blade** was going around with Daisy. They were almost having a laugh. They'd started at the easy ones, knot tying and edible plants and stuff. They were working on the weapons now, but it was obvious that Daisy couldn't hold nor dodge a weapon for toffee. Blade realised that if he was planning on helping Daisy it would be much harder than he'd thought. If anyone attacked her she'd be defenceless. And it wasn't just that, there were plenty of people about who were watching just how weak she was. She'd be the one they headed for first. The full responsibility of looking after Daisy hit him in the stomach. The best she could do was hide and wait it out until everyone else was dead, and _that _wasn't going to work very well.

**The** careers had found Silver, and he was feeling good. Now he was a part of the most feared alliance in the games and he had just another advantage to winning. The group was made up of two other boys, from two and four, who both looked skilled and strong enough to be careers. The girl from two didn't look much at first glance, but he'd learnt she was dangerous at the first station they visited. The girl from four, however, didn't seemed to be particularly good at anything. She must be useful for _something. _Silver figured she must be hiding her talents. That made him instantly suspicious, she could be dangerous. But the one he truly scared of was the girl from eight, jade. She managed to sneak her way in and there was no doubt she was the scariest. Silver liked her.

**Eliana** and Jarsen had been going around the same stations together since they'd made their alliance. Eliana was beginning to get an idea of how Jarsen worked. He was working to help himself, for the most part. Although he'd shared quite a bit of information with Eliana after they'd made the alliance. They'd gone round the knot tying station and the edible plants first. She'd been watching Jarsen's face when the instructor was talking to them and she had no doubt he'd remember everything he'd been told when it came to the games.

They were now at the station for the bow and arrow's. Eliana was doing alright, she often hit near the middle of the target, even if it wasn't exactly straight.

"You shake to much" Jarsen told her bluntly. "You need to hold still, make sure you know where you're firing, then let go fast" Eliana rolled her eyes to try and give the impression that she didn't want his help, but she noted what he'd said and next time she almost hit the bulls-eye. Jarsen noticed and smiled at her. Eliana smiled back at him and tried again.

**Cole **decided that now was the time to make alliances. He scanned the room looking for anyone who seemed to have a fighting chance at winning. He wasn't just looking for that in an alliance, he wanted someone who was decent. Take the emo girl for example. He'd seen how skilled she was with the knife, and she was quite strong and fast too, but he doubted he could stand being around her for more than a minute.

He was also watching Allie, enough to know she was on the look-out for alliances too. But when he looked back at her she was staring decisively at the bow and arrow station. Cole followed her gaze to see who she was looking at. The district twelve tributes must've made an alliance and they were helping each other with the archery. Cole saw Allie begin walking at a brisk pace towards them, and Cole started to walk too. They reached the station at the same time.

"Eliana, is it?" Allie asked before Cole could open his mouth. "I'm Allie, from Eleven. Would you like to consider an alliance?" Allie watched for Eliana's reaction with a business-like manner. Districts Eleven and Twelve had been good friends for about ten years now. Since Rue and Katniss...

"Well..." Eliana said, clearly thinking about it. Her district partner had come over and was listening. They were all largely ignoring Cole and he felt awkward standing there.

"I promise you won't regret it. Let me show you" Allie smiled, and Cole wondered if he saw a hint of nervousness there. Allie bent and picked up a bow lying on the floor with an arrow already strung. She fiddled with the string and arrow for a while, then lifted it and pulled her hand back to her jaw and the arrow shot from the bow and hit the bulls-eye. Allie sighed, as if she was relieved it had hit the target. Eliana exchanged glances with her district partner before saying,

"Alright then. You're in" Allie smiled warmly and introduced herself to the boy from District Twelve, whose name appeared to be Jarsen.

"Er, um. No chance I could join?" Cole asked as they began to walk away. He knew he sounded a bit desperate, but if you don't ask you don't get, right? "I'm good with an arrow too, and knives, I -" Jarsen interrupted him

"I know, I saw you earlier. You might as well" Cole did a quick triumph grin and walked off with them too.


	13. The Bloodbath

**THIS CHAPTER IS FOR PARANORMALCY, BECAUSE SHE ALWAYS HELPS ME WHEN I'M STUCK AND SHE'S ALWAYS REALLY INVOLVED. PLUS IT'S HER BIRTHDAY. _HAPPY BIRTHDAY! (sorry its late!)_**

**Before I saw anything else, my cat wanted a word. 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-[;'[;'[;'[;'[;'[;'[;'[;'[;'[;'[;'[;'[;'[;'[;'[;'[;'[;'[;'[;'[;'[;'[;'[;'[;'[;'[;'[;'[;'[;'[;'[;'[;'[;'[;'[;'[;'[;'[;'[;'[;'[;'[;'[;'[;'[;'[;'[;'. So, the first chapter set in the arena! Once more, please PLEASE PM me if you get any ideas, or if you want to buy anything. If you want your tribute to have a map, or anything else, then PM me to let me know and I'll tell you how many points you have.**

The interviews passed mostly uneventfully. Allie laughed as she watched Cole play the sad orphan, as ridiculous as it seemed, he was a good actor. Allie felt sorry for him and his little brother. Jade had kept up her game of scaring everyone with her interview, the audience had been looking rather unnerved at the end of her time, maybe something to do with 'This place? This isn't what I'd call the Capitol. This is Hell with fancy lighting.' Another notable tribute had been Dove. You wouldn't have thought so if you looked at her, but the little girl had managed to sum up everyone's feelings. "If I die, I'll just be another Tribute lost in the Games...I want to be remembered..."

Allie always did that when she was scared, thought about stuff, to take her mind of it.

Because she and twenty three other kids were about to go down into the games. They'd soon see the arena, the weapons and weather. Soon half of them could be dead.

The platform jumped and Allie stomach did with it. Oh, God. This was it.

**Jazz **breathed shakily. The Hunger Games. They were waiting for her just...She squeezed her eyes shut. Jazz opened her eyes when she was certain they'd landed. She blinked and stopped herself from stumbling when she she where they all were. They were stood on the summit of a mountain, with the Cornucopia in the middle. She could see her fellow tributes in a circle around the golden horn, most of them were eyeing up the bounty and the other half were looking for a way to escape.

And that was the trouble. There was only one obvious way to escape; a path that lead down the mountain in a fairly straight line.

The she saw it, a perfect silver axe in the mouth of the cornucopia. She could get it, if she ran, she could reach it...The gong boomed and made her ears rang, but she didn't let that stop her, she ran and ran as fast as she could...and grabbed the axe before anyone else! But then the boy, Morgead came up behind her. He was going to grab the axe! Jazz swung it without thinking, and it hit the boy in the back. Jazz saw the light leave his eyes and realized that his hand wasn't reaching for her axe, but for a bow and arrow by her feet. And she'd killed him. God, oh, God, she'd killed a person. Jazz let out a panicked sob and ran away, before stumbling down the steep edge of the mountain.

Morgead had locked eyes with Jez first to let her know he was going after the perfect golden bow at the mouth of the cornucopia. The last thing he saw was jazz's horrified face staring at him, mouth agape.

Jez screamed. Morgead. Morgead was dead before it had ever began. She ran forward, through the battling tributes and she jumped over the scattered spoils. He couldn't be dead, he wasn't. What would she do without him? How could she carry on...? The axe was still left in his body and anger for Jazz ripped through her. Jez knew it had been Jazmine, she'd seen that girl working with the axe. She'd even had the nerve to leave the evil weapon in the body. Jez knelt down beside Morgead and began crying. She didn't see Shiloh run up towards them. She didn't see him eye the axe left unguarded in Morgead's body. Shiloh grabbed the axe unceremoniously leaving a gaping wound in Morgead's back, before sticking the axe halfway through Jez's neck and killing her.

Stacey saw the mountain view and froze up. She had to get away, she could meet the careers up later, even though she knew at heart she wasn't one of them. Silver's platform was next to hers, and the grin he gave her sent chills up her spine. When the gong sounded, she ran for the path as fast as she could, but Silver was faster, much faster. He'd picked up a metal pipe that had been lying further away from the cornucopia and before Stacey knew what was happening, he was hitting her with it over her head. She felt herself loosing consciousness, and briefly wondered if it would be the last thing she ever thought before she died.

The first thing Blade did was look for Daisy. He'd seen the arena, and knowing his luck Daisy'd be afraid of heights. She was stood on her own platform opposite him across from the cornucopia. When the gong sound blade ran forward, dodging attacks and managed to reach some good supplies and weapons. He'd told Daisy to run and hide as soon as the gong sounded, but when he went to find her, all he saw was her sweet, limp body lying in the grass clutching a little posy of daisies, with that psychopath Jade stood over her laughing. Blade clenched up in anger and ran towards her to cut her, hurt her, for killing the little girl, but he only managed to cut her back before someone pulled him to one side and began pulling him away. Whoever it was, they were small, and not very strong. But he ran with them anyway. When he looked down to see who it was, he was surprised to see it was the other littler one, Dove.

"Don't attack Jade. She's strong, and you could get hurt at the moment. Wait until everyone hates her for killing people, and when she's hurt. Then you can kill her." Blade didn't like it, but the little girl was right. So he followed her some way down the path, then off into a dark forest.

Eliana searched the crowd of fighting teenagers for her alliance. She could see Allie doing the same across several battles. The wind was picking up and Allie's auburn hair swept about her stony face.

"Allie!" Eliana screamed to catch the girl's attention. Allie nodded and ran towards Ellie, dodging weapons and fights on her way.

"I can see Jarsen getting supplies and weapons, he's pretty good" Allie said loudly over the sound of clashing blades, screaming and crying.

Suddenly, Eliana heard a crazed scream and turned to see one of the careers, Silver, running at her with a dagger. Before Eliana could scream, he was on the floor, bleeding unconsciously with Jarsen stood behind him.

"Cole is coming, then we need to put as much distance as possible between us and this place" Eliana smiled gratefully at Jarsen.

"There he is!" Allie shouted, pointing at a figure that was probably Cole. "Lets get going!" She told them, already off when Cole reached them.

Corey and Roxana had fought to the last for the supplies. There was still plenty there for them. Now everyone had either run off, or had died. The only ones left were them, and Shiloh and Rosemary. Roxana saw Stacey and silver lying on the ground. She immediately ran off to see if they were still alive. Corey smiled. That was what he loved most about her, despite how violently she was raised, she was still so caring and sweet.

"Silver's just unconscious. Poor Stacey wasn't as lucky"

"Nothing to do with luck" Rosemary said. Everyone turned to look at her. "Silver killed her, I saw it. We'll have to watch out for him, he's slippery" Everyone was silent as they watched the bleeding boy on the floor.

"I think I can see a tarn down there" Shiloh pointed as he changed the subject. "It'd be a good place to set up a camp. I'll make my way down there. Rosemary, you take Silver and come down with me." Shiloh turned to Corey and Roxana. "Can you two collect everything that's left?" Shiloh left without waiting for an answer.

Roxana had about three rucksacks on her back, all sorts of things wrapped up in a tarpaulin she was carrying. She then noticed that Corey had stopped and was looking at two bodies, a boy and a girl.

"Hey...Weren't they together?" He asked with a little frown. Roxana nodded sadly as she stared at them. Corey bent down, which was pretty impressive considering how much he was carrying, and put their hands together before running off after Shiloh and Rosemary.

**Sorry its a bit short :)**


	14. Second day in the Arena

**Please let me know if you want your tribute to team up with anyone in particular if they aren't already, or if you want to buy anything with your sponsor points.**

Jade was so angry. She'd joined the career alliance in the capitol then as soon as they'd got into the arena they'd forgotten her. She'd ran off down the mountain chasing a scared kid away, then when she reached the cornucopia, they'd all gone. The bodies had too. All that was left was the golden horn and patches of blood on the ground.

It hadn't taken her long to find them though, she could see them from the top of the mountain. There was a lake some way down. What's it called on a mountain? A tarn. They had several tents pitched up there. Jade had spent a good hour walking down there. The shoes she was wearing were good ones, but they were already wearing at the toes from all the downhill walking.

"So, you just left me then? Planning to abandon me?" Jade screeched when she came within hearing distance of them. Every head turned towards her, but only one walked forward. Shiloh, from District Four. He'd clearly had his pick of weapons because in his hand he held a silver trident, and in a makeshift belt was tied a wickedly sharp, gleaming spear.

"Sorry Jade, you weren't around. We thought you'd either run off or were dead"

"You thought I'd been _defeated? _You thought I'd _run away?"_ Jade's pitch rose higher and higher. She took a large, confident step towards Shiloh and punched him in the face. Shiloh took the punch with a grunt, and turned back to face the girl with a stony face.

"Don't ever do that again, or you'll regret it." Lightning fast, Shiloh took his spear from his belt and stabbed Jade in the foot. She screamed, in both outrage and pain. No one had ever fought back before...Jade and Shiloh swapped angry glares before they went back to the others.

"Do you want me to look at that foot for you?" Rosemary offered to Jade. Jade growled.

"No way. I can take care of myself"

"Suit yourself, don't blame me when you get an infection and your foot has to be amputated" Rosemary walked off huffily and Jade, despite her rejection to Rosemary's help, washed her foot in the tarn. Roxana put some of the ice-packs that she'd found in the rucksacks onto Shiloh's cheek as Corey watched on jealously. He'd have to say something to her...he couldn't bear it if they both died and he'd never told her how he felt. Well, he supposed he'd be _dead_ so technically he wouldn't give a toss, but...Corey had to say something about it to her, sometime.

**Dove** had found a little hiding place, she seemed quite good at that. She'd proposed an alliance; she knew about animals and how to kill them from her farm work, and Blade could keep them both safe. In reality, Dove had found him because she'd seen how nice he was to Daisy. And Blade hadn't refused because she was so lacking in strength. The back-packs had had good food in them which they'd rationed and water purifier. Thankfully there were plenty of mountain springs if you could find them in-between the rocks.

"What was that?" Dove asked from behind the boulder they'd been squatting behind. Blade put up a finger to silence her, because he could hear it too, footsteps crackling the dry leaves on the ground, and deep breathes that were clearly trying to be quieter. Blade tightened his grip on his dagger, and when he was sure that whoever it was was just around the corner, he jumped.

"Aaaaagh!" Screamed the person. It was a boy that looked vaguely familiar to Blade, was he from seven? He had brown hair and eyes, not very remarkable in any way. Blade held the dagger to his throat.

"P-please don't hurt me! I'm just, I'm-look, I haven't got any weapons, I'm just looking for food!" Blade took the dagger away from his throat.

"What's your name? Your District?"  
>"Fir! From Seven"<p>

"Is that Jazmine girl anywhere near here? I saw her kill Morgead at the bloodbath"

"Jazz? No! I barely know her. I'm just looking for food" Blade looked around, then back to Fir. As far as he could tell he was telling the truth...

"I believe him, Blade" Dove said. Blade frowned at her frantically. He didn't want her out right now, it might be dangerous. "Let's give him some food and water. He might know more about what alliances there are and stuff."

**Fir **felt so much better once he'd got some food, and protection. He realised that Dove and Blade would probably let him in their alliance if he asked.

"What's out there?" Dove asked in a whisper. Fir finished chewing his bread then began to talk.

"As far as I can tell, there's only two real alliances at the moment, both from Eleven and both from Twelve make one. I'd watch out for them. And the career pack, although they don't seem half as vicious this year. Mind you, I wouldn't put it past them to kill any one of us if they got the chance. The one to look out for is Jade, she's evil. She chased me to practically the bottom of the mountain." Blade growled and froze up when he heard Jade's name. He hated her. Hated her so much. When he thought about poor Daisy...

"She killed Daisy" he said.

"Aww, man. That must be rough. You two were really close weren't you" Blade said nothing, just wiped the tear away before they could see.

**Jazz **had been lost at first. She wandered around thinking about how Morgead looked when she killed him, remembering how Jez had screaming. She remembered everything and it was terrible. It made her skin prick and her eyes sore from crying, out of fear than most things.

Then she thought about Udonis, how he'd been the day Kory had got trapped in the machinery, well, she said day. He'd been locked in his room for weeks out of guilt and shame. He'd come out eventually, telling them that he wasn't doing anyone any good by crying in his room. Jazz took a deep breath and decided to be brave. She had to try and win, for Kory and Udonis.

So what was her best bet? Who was likely to help her? Then it struck her. Allie, Cole, Eliana and Jarsen. She had to join their alliance.

Jazz wasn't surprised to find herself in front of the little cluster of Conifer trees that she'd seen from the top of the mountain. She was from Seven, woods and forests were her home. She walked in with confidence, keeping an eye out for anyone. If she was attacked she wouldn't stand much of a chance without a weapon. She'd have to rely on whatever hand-to-hand combat skills she possessed. Uh oh. She was fast though, she could run away. Jazz paused for a second, had she heard something? She could hear people talking, to her left where there was a giant boulder.

"Well, I don't really know Jazz that well. I guess I saw her at school a few times..." She knew that voice. Fir? Who was he with.

"I don't trust her. What did Morgead ever do to her? He had a girlfriend!" Jazz didn't know who that was, another boy though.

"Yeah, they let everyone know _that"_ She heard Fir mumbled. She smiled a little bit and decided to get as far away from them as possible. She didn't want them coming after her.

Ebony had made her way out of there almost straight away. She wanted to know what was at the bottom of the mountain and she'd been walking all day. Now she was at the bottom she didn't know what to do. There was a river around the bottom, like a moat, then a drop, as if the arena was suspended in mid-air. Ebony narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the water. There was something off about it...

Ebony knelt down and took off her shoe. Then she took off her sock and put the shoe back on again. She dangled the sock over the river, then dropped it. She watched for a second as it drifted down the stream. She raised her eyebrows cynically when it violently burst into flames.

Tane and Brita had escaped the bloodbath successfully, with plenty of weapons and supplies. Brita had found a tall tree which they'd been living in. Brita had been shooting the tributes that walked underneath it, but so far she'd only hit two. Two boys that Tane remembered to be Dexton and Budd.

"What are we going to do next? We can't sit up here shooting people that walk past for the entire games." Tane asked, as he ate some more bread. Brita frowned.

"I know, but we'll think about that when I comes to it. We're safe at the moment, and I'd like to keep it that way." They fell into silence as they heard some more people walking into view. Brita stretched her bow, but didn't aim it. They both knew that if it was the careers she couldn't shoot all of them, and they were bound to find them and kill them. They walked into sight quietly. Jarsen, Allie, Cole and Eliana. Brita aimed the bow, clearly deciding that she would shoot them. Tane followed the tip of the arrow nervously. It pointed to Allie's heart. Tane frowned and panicked a little. He quite liked Allie. And he had a feeling she quite liked someone too. Tane's eyes flicked between Allie, Cole and Brita before he put his hand over the arrow. Brita frowned at him in both confusion and annoyance, Tane only shook his head.

Allie chose that moment to look up and see Tane's hand over the arrow. She gasped, and Cole turned back to frown at her.

"Thank you" Allie mouthed to Tane. Tane smiled and nodded.


	15. The Third Day

**Doesn't anyone want to buy anything? And if you want a weapon, just ask. I know I kinda forgot that one off the list (Thank you nickelnick!) And I haven't reposted it because when I found out I was in service station using free service station wi-fi on an iPod and I needed to get going, and since I keep on forgetting so...yeah.**

**Jazz** had found them. Allie, Eliana, Cole and Jarsen. They'd set up a camp about ¾ of the way down the mountain. They were crouching behind some rocks and grass, but they hadn't been hidden very well. Jazz walked forward nervously.  
>"Hello?" She asked nervously. In a second, all four were standing, weapons raised.<p>

"Please don't kill me! Let me join your alliance!" All the weapons but Jarsen's wavered slightly.

"No" He said firmly

"Please! I can help you!" Jazz pleaded

"I saw you kill Morgead for no reason"

"OK, one:This is the hunger Games. Killing for no reason is the whole point of them. And two: It was an accident! I thought he was trying to kill me!" Allie lowered her weapon.  
>"I think we should let her join, you must've seen her with that axe in the training sessions" Allie pleaded on her behalf. Jazz nodded eagerly Cole still looked unsure, but Eliana seemed to be siding with Allie on the matter.<br>"I think so to. C'mon Jarsen, she's not completely crazy like Jade or anything and..." Eliana ran out of argument.

"No, Eliana. I don't trust her, we don't want to many in this alliance, it'll only make things harder when it comes to break things off."

"There's already four of us, what's one more? I like her, don't think you can bully me or control me. I'm not some silly girl that you've picked up along the corridor back home" Jarsen laughed, even though it was anything but funny. Too right she wasn't anyone he'd picked up at school or down the mine. Too clever by half. Jarsen looked between Eliana and Allie's stony expressions, and Jazz's pleading one.  
>"Alright then. You're in Jazz. Now I suggest you three go look for some sort of water, there wasn't anything in the packs we got" Eliana raised her eyebrows at Jarsen who was already telling her what to do.<p>

"And Jazz? What about her?"

"I want to talk to her" Eliana nodded and began to walk away carrying her bow and knife, with some arrows in her rucksack. Allie rolled her eyes at Jarsen.

"Don't try anything funny" She told him sternly, which Jarsen ignored. Cole walked after Allie. Jarsen smiled at them, they were so sweet.

"Well? What do you want to talk to me about?" Jazz asked. Jarsen looked at her, half stonily, and half pityingly.

"I don't trust you" He said quietly. "Morgead was alright" Jazz began to panic, sensing the tension.

"It was a mistake! I never meant to hurt him! I liked him, I talked to Jez and she was lovely, I didn't want to hurt him, let alone kill him!"

"But you did" Jarsen said sternly. He picked a dagger off the ground and threw it into Jazz's heart.

"I didn't mean to kill him!" Jazz cried before the dagger reached her. Jazz fell to the floor as the knife wedged itself in her chest.

"Dad..." She called weakly.

"I'm sorry" Jarsen whispered kindly, but she was already dead. Jarsen turned when he heard a rustling behind him.

"Oh hell Jarsen. You killed her. You're going to get hell from Allie and Eliana when they get back. Absolute hell"

"Why didn't you leave?" Jarsen asked angrily.

"Why did you kill her? Look, I won't tell the girls, but you're going to need an excuse"

"I thought of that. I was planning on blaming it on Jade" Cole shrugged.

"It's a pathetic excuse really, but I'll vouch for you. Y'know, I liked her. Jazz I mean, not Jade. I don't think you should've killed her"

"I know I shouldn't have. She was alright really, but I had to. We can't go around making friends with everyone we meet."  
>Cole shrugged. "Whatever"<p>

Jarsen and Cole sat around for a while, waiting for Allie and Eliana. Cole and Jarsen sat up straight when they heard them laughing in the distance. Jarsen had got rid of Jazz's body, but he was going to have to do some serious acting.

"Cole!" Allie called cheerfully "We found some water, it seems to be everywhere in this arena!" Allie frowned when she and Eliana came in sight of the boys.

"What's happening? Where's Jazz?" Eliana asked. Jarsen looked down at the ground.

"Jade. She came through, killed Jazz. We started fighting her, and eventually we chased her out, but..." Jarsen looked down at the ground again.

"Jazz is dead?" Allie asked in shock. Jarsen nodded. "Cole?" Allie asked for confirmation.

"It's true, she...she ran away though"

"And why weren't you looking for water as well?" Eliana asked Cole.

"Well, I hung around a while..." Cole said. "I suppose it was good in the long-run"

"Oh My God" Allie said and tears came out of her eyes. Cole walked forward and hugged Allie to comfort her. Eliana grinned, despite the circumstances, at Allie when she saw Allie smile. Cole seemed to be enjoying the hug too.

"I'm sorry Ellie" Jarsen said to Eliana. And he meant it. Maybe he'd felt as if he had to kill Jazz, but he didn't like it. He thought Eliana was about to start crying like Allie, but instead she walked forward and kissed him.

**Ebony **had stayed by the river. She figured if anyone came along she'd have the advantage. She could be friendly. How were they? Would they like some food? A wash? And then they'd die. Maybe it was cruel of her, ruthless. But the whole Games were ruthless.  
>Ebony thought a bit, should she join an alliance? Or make one? She didn't <em>want<em> to. She preferred being on her own, but perhaps it was a tactical advantage. If she found someone clever, or stronger than her. She frowned as she looked back at her nails. She'd forgotten, her prep team had removed her nail varnish. Well, that pink fairy Nicola had. She'd also covered her in 'Lucky Pixie Dust', that she was probably allergic to. Fortunately the Capitol hadn't been much better than the peacekeepers from Three at stopping her from sneaking things into the arena and Ebony could easily apply more black nail varnish. She giggled uncharacteristically as she did so.

**The **careers had all moved on. Maybe Shiloh wasn't a ruthless cold-blooded killer, but he'd have to kill if he wanted to get out of the games and get back to Hana. And if he got rid of people quicker then he'd be able to leave quicker and get back to District Four and the life he loved. Silver had got on with it and died eventually, leaving him and Rosemary, Corey, Roxana and Jade. Shiloh didn't like Jade, she was too _ready_ to kill, too _eager. _And Shiloh didn't like that. He didn't like going to sleep at night, for fear she'd kill him in his sleep. But then again, if you go around killing people left, right and centre you're bound to make a few enemies. Shiloh himself was considering trying to kill her, but she was useful.

**Only **two had died one the second day. Corey had seen their faces on the sky, but he couldn't remember their names. And so far today he'd only heard the one cannon. Corey was scared, the gamemakers were bound to send some sort of trap in the near future. Shiloh, Jade and Rosemary had gone ahead, they'd thought they'd heard people talking, and Corey had taken the opportunity to take a rest. Roxana was all but asleep next to him, they'd set off in the dead of night. In fact, he wasn't sure what was keeping him awake. Corey sat up dead straight when he heard distant voices yelling, if he wasn't very much mistaken, that was.  
>"Roxana! Wake up! I think the others are being attacked!" Roxana woke up slowly despite Corey's urgency and Corey was beginning to panic. He finally managed to get her walking, and then running.<br>Jade was in hand-to-hand combat with Brita, and Shiloh and Rosemary were fighting Tane. Corey had to hand it to them, they could fight. Brita was clearly fighting dirty, jade had several bite marks, including a disturbing one on Jade's throat. Corey would have been scared but he doubted Brita was the cannibal type.

Shiloh had his trident out, and Tane was running about and dodging like crazy, although lucky for him he had a knife which he stabbed at Shiloh when he got an opening. Corey exchanged a look with Roxana before they ran forward to help out, but before Corey could reach them, the world tumbled upside down and he fell into darkness.

Roxana woke to someone calling her name and poking her in the ribs. She couldn't help herself, she smiled. Roxana was incurably and extremely ticklish, and there was only one other person in the world who knew that.  
>"Corey?" She asked.<p>

"Right here, sleepy-head. Do you remember? We fell in some sort of pit. You hit your head and you've been out cold for about ten minutes."

"What about Shiloh? Rosemary? Why haven't they rescued us?"

"I think they fell into some sort of pit too, I heard Rosemary scream. And maybe Tane as well..." Roxana laughed and looked around her.

The pit was pretty deep and the walls looked like dirt but they were smooth, they'd be hard to escape from. She was beginning to despair.

"There must be a way out..." Corey though aloud. He kicked the wall hard with his boot and the wall shifted slightly, Roxana felt a slight tremor that she imagined was hundreds of dirt clods behind the toe of Corey's boots shaking and loosening.

"Do that again" She commanded, Corey obliged. This time some of the earth fell onto Roxana's feet. "Keep doing that!" She yelled as she helped him out. Before long there was a dent in the smooth wall surface that was the size of Corey's boot. There was another one beside that which was the shape of Roxana's boot.

"I could stand on those, and lift you up. You might just be able to reach the top and pull me out" Roxana nodded as Corey wedged his feet into the footholds.

Corey lifted her up as high as he could and Roxana's fingers were brushing the grass.

"I nearly have it! Just a little higher!"

"I can't...go...higher!" Corey said though clenched teeth. The dirt was strong, but he was scared that they would give way any minute.

"Just give me a push! One more little centimetre!" Corey didn't answer, just heaved and groaned in acknowledgement as he threw Roxana into the air. Well, a centimetre. But that was all Roxana needed. She climbed up and reached down for Corey.

"The footholds have given way!It's just me on the ground with...what's that noise?" Corey tilted his head as if he could hear something, then Roxana heard it too and her eyes widened as she saw what was happening.  
>Snakes were coming in through the place where the footholds had once been.<p>

"Err...Roxana? Help!" Roxana lay flat on the grass and reached down as far as she could. It became clear to Corey that he was going to have to jump to reach her, but as soon as he did that the snakes might bite. He'd have to make sure that none of them were on him...

"Corey! Jump! I'll pull you up!" nervously, Corey looked between the rising number of snakes and the girl he loved. He closed his eyes for a second, then jumped. His fingers brushed Roxana's, and he was about to fall back down again when her hand found him.

"Gotcha!" She yelled through her teeth as she supported his weight on her one arms. She grabbed his arms with both of hers and slowly pulled him up, heaving as she went. What had he been _eating?_ Finally, after what seemed like forever Corey fell onto the grass, as did Roxana, she was exhausted. She looked around. Tane and Brita had also managed to escape. She could see them running off. Two pairs of hands gripped the edge of another pit. One of the pairs of hands had blood red nail varnish, the other was weathered and unmistakably Shiloh's. There was no sign of Rosemary. Roxana turned to look at Corey.

"I love you so much right now" She said with a smile. Corey beamed at her.  
>"Me too"<p>

Cole lay back and watched the stars. There'd only been one face on the sky that night, one of the careers, Rosanna? Something like that. Allie was next to him, she hadn't done much all day but cried. And Cole understood how she felt. It had started off about Jazz, but then it had been about the games, and everything else that was wrong. Cole had always wanted to do that, but he couldn't. Not when he lived in the orphanage. He couldn't cry in front of Sam.

"Tell me about your family" He asked Allie impulsively. For a moment Cole thought she wasn't going to answer, then she spoke.

"You saw their pictures in the family book. My mum and dad, Charlie and Claire. They run the tailor shop. But there isn't much chance of me continuing the business. I can't sew for love of money. It'll be Kate, my sister, who'll do that. She's only six but she can make clothes like an angel, if that makes sense" Cole laughed softly. He couldn't believe he'd thought she was spoilt when he first met her.

"And what about your brother? Jack?"

"Hmm..." Cole could imagine Allie stroking her chin thoughtfully.

"I don't know. Maybe he'll get a full time job in the fields, he does like gardening"

"You?" Cole asked. Allie was silent for a while.

"I don't know," She whispered. "I guess I thought...I don't know. I thought I'd marry, have kids, but I never really thought about a job. I'm not good at anything."

"That's not true!" Cole protested.

"Then what _am_ I good at?" Allie asked. Cole didn't have an answer to that. He just knew that Allie was a good person. "Exactly" She said. "I wouldn't have minded marrying you" Allie laughed mischievously. Cole joined in.

Jarsen felt so bad. It wasn't killing Jazz, however wrong it had been killing was a part of the world he was in. The world he hated. The thing that got him was how upset Eliana was, and that she blamed it all on Jade when it was his fault. The worst part was that she'd kissed him, and he'd liked it. She loved him when by all right she should hate him. And he kinda liked her when he should be focused on getting home to help his family, not building a relationship that could never work with a girl he barely knew, or making friends with kids from other districts that would probably die too (Cole and Allie's faces flashed in his mind)

But he was beginning to feel something for Eliana. She wasn't falling all over him like the other girls in Twelve, yet she actually liked him, unlike the other girls in District Twelve.

Jarsen almost smiled. He was so confused.


	16. The Fourth Day

**Sorry it took so long, I had a bit more trouble with this one. And just to let you know, my laptop has been repaired in record time! So that's good. Enjoy!**

Dove looked up at the sky in worry. So Jazz was dead now, was she? Blade would be happy, although she had no idea why he'd taken such a dislike to her just for killing a boy he didn't know. Maybe it was because it was the first death he saw.  
>Dove had nothing against Jazz, she'd liked her. She seemed happy and friendly, yet there was something sad about her and Dove had never had the opportunity to ask. Not that she would even if she ever <em>had <em>had the chance. She would've chickened out.

Blade had told her to wait behind their rock whilst he and Fir went searching for weapons for Dove. Dove had wanted to go too, but Blade wouldn't let her. Dove had told him that she worked best with a spear, and he'd promised to look for one especially. They were going to the Cornucopia first to see if, even after several days, there was anything left. Dove knew it was a futile hope; the others would've picked it clean days ago.

Fir had joined their alliance. He was average at most things, but he kept their spirits up. He told them stories of his favourite place in the world, his district. They'd sat huddled together for warmth last night, all feeling miserable when he talked.

"District Seven is this giant wood. It's the most beautiful place ever, the sunlight sifts through the trees and the cool air brushes past you. And you can smell the trees, clean and fresh. Every part of the place is magical. The houses are each separated, mine is especially out of the way. The factories are to the east side, where you can see the train tracks. In fact, Jazz owned a factory there. But I don't like it over there; you can hear all the out-of-place machinery." Dove smiled again thinking of that. She wouldn't mind living in a place like that.

When Cole woke in the morning he discovered that their cozy little alliance of four friends, from two friendly districts had become a cozy little alliance of two couples from District Eleven and District Twelve. Not that he was complaining, of course.  
>Jarsen was sharpening a knife, and the sound of metal against metal pierced Cole's ears. So he scrunched up his face and covered his ears in response.<br>"Hey, Jarse, stop that, will you? Killing my ears" Jarsen didn't look up, just continued to sharpen the knife.  
>"Don't call me Jarse, it's a ridiculous name. And I think you'll find that a sharp knife is far more effective than a blunt one when it comes to murdering people. And we need to get murdering people if we want to win, which I do"<br>"OK, OK! And don't call it murdering" Jarsen finally stopped and looked at Cole.  
>"What would you call it then?"<br>"Well, I dunno. Just…Don't call it murdering" Jarsen shrugged and got on with his work. Cole sighed.

Allie woke up and smiled. Just like she used to back in her old room in Eleven. She had no reason to be so happy, except that it was a sunny morning and she refused to think about where she was.  
>"Morning" she said as she stretched and woke up. Eliana groaned and turned around next to her. Clearly she wasn't a morning person. "Grumpy" Allie mumbled good-naturedly. Eliana groaned something back but Allie wasn't listening. She was up and about.<br>"I'll go and see if I can shoot and rabbits!" She chirped as she all-but skipped away." Cole raised his eyebrows.  
>"She's perky" He commented.<br>"Too perky…"Eliana groaned from the ground. Jarsen chuckled.  
>"You have to get up sometime"<br>"_Some_time. Not now. So shut up and let me sleep" Jarsen rolled his eyes.  
>"Up! Now!" He said, with the hint of a smile in his voice.<br>"Wild horses couldn't drag me up"  
>"Who said anything about wild horses?" Jarsen asked as he grabbed hold of Eliana's arms. He tugged her upwards and she screamed in shock.<br>"What the hell are you doing?" She screamed, smiling.  
>"Waking you up. I hope you're as perky as Allie, we need food because we're clean out" Eliana banged her head against Jarsen chest and groaned again.<br>"No way. I'm too tired" Eliana complained. Jarsen looked about for something for Eliana to do.  
>"How about packing the bags? We're moving on"<br>"Yeah, sure" She said, before tipping her head up and kissing Jarsen. He kissed her back guiltily. Every time she did that he felt so guilty. She believed that Jade had killed Jazz, when it was him…  
>"Hey Jarsen! Get over here, there's this crazy bush. I've never seen anything like it in District Eleven." Jarsen followed Cole's voice and saw what he was pointing too. There was a small bush with tiny purple berries hidden inside.<br>"I wouldn't. We're not starving, and Allie will be back with food soon. Let's not go committing suicide."

Rosemary was dead. Shiloh told them that when the snakes had some out she'd screamed and jumped around and the snakes had immediately bitten her. Shiloh and Jade had jumped and managed to grab hold of the edge of the pit. Corey wished that Jade had been bitten, and not Rosemary. Rosemary was sweet, and sad. Corey imagined it was something to do with her home or family.

Corey knew that he would die soon. If he didn't die soon then Roxana would. He knew he'd give his life for her, just the way he always suspected that his father's best friend had let him kill her. He'd seen his dad's Games. He'd cross reverenced it. He'd sat right up next to the screen; and he saw that Davina's eyes were open when Max White stabbed her. That she smiled slightly before she died when Max fell to his knees and held her. Only the barest hint of a smile, but it was there. Corey could never kill Roxana, and Roxana could never kill him. Corey would kill himself for her.

Ebony had got bored down at 'The Moat' as she called it. No one ever ventured down there, and the river itself was a one-trick-pony. You see one sock spontaneously combust, you've seen them all. She was hiking up the mountain in search of company, which with any luck should end with her being one more step closer to winning the games after all. Ebony spent her time fantasizing about how to kill people. Maybe it wasn't nice, but it was probably useful. Ebony had some fun thinking of ways to kill people that would make her seem more like a witch, so as to make the residents of District Three tremble in their boots. Not to mention it wouldn't do her mother's social life any good and it would freak out her sister. Her dad wouldn't care, as usual.

Ebony thought hard. How many of them were left? She remembered all the faces she'd seen projected onto the sky, and decided that there must be around 15 of them left. Not even half of them gone. Well, she could change that.

When Blade had returned, they'd all walked some more. Fir reckoned they were travelling further into the heart of the forest, but Dove liked that. She wished she could hide in the forest, with no fighting and Fir and Blade forever.  
>Blade had got Dove a bow and arrow, which she was pleased with. She shot some good shots at a tree before they left and she felt better knowing that if she was attacked she'd at least have a fighting chance, even though the thought of actually killing a <em>person <em>made her sick. She had to kill animals on the farm but that was different. She cried when she killed the chickens, but ate them the same evening, even if it was a bit guiltily. Knowing that the meat she was chewing used to be Henrietta or Chucky.

Eliana was sick of walking. She was still tired from that morning and she wanted a rest, but Jarsen kept on going. Cole seemed as tired as her, they were both lagging behind whilst Allie skipped ahead and Jarsen hiked at a steady speed.  
>Eliana had been watching Jarsen closely. He seemed to be thinking hard about something, and had been for some time. Since they'd set off in the morning in fact. Eliana tried to guess what he was thinking, and she was slightly worried she knew what. She'd bring it up when they stopped if he didn't.<p>

Jarsen had been thinking about it all morning. It was sensible, rational, and logical. But could he do that? Could he bring it up? Maybe when they stopped for a rest he would.

After half an hour of silence, Jarsen welcomed Eliana's voice.  
>"Can we stop, please? I have blisters. My blisters have blisters. My blister's blisters have blisters!"<br>"Yes! Please! My legs are about to fall off!" Cole contributed. Jarsen looked to Allie, who shrugged nonchalantly.

"OK then. At this rock ahead" Eliana ran, despite her blisters, towards the rock and sat on it, taking her shoes off and having a drink, then poured the water on her feet. Jarsen smiled at her, and his smile saddened as he looked to Allie and Cole. He caught up with them on the rock.  
>"Um, guys. I don't want to do this, but I think we need to consider breaking the alliance" Everyone's face fell. Then Cole pulled himself together.<br>"You're right. You guys are my friends now, but…Sam's waiting for me back home. It's logical" Allie nodded through tears. Eliana only stared into the distance.

Cole turned his head around to face Allie. "But I was wondering, will you stay with me a while?" Cole smiled nervously. "I'd appreciate it" Allie smiled through her tears again.  
>"Yes. Yes, I will" She threw her arms around Cole, and they both laughed. Eliana looked to Jarsen hopefully. Jarsen knew it wasn't rational; Eliana wasn't helping him to win. But he loved her, and that seemed to stop all his arguments in their tracks.<p>

"Looks like we're splitting in two then" Cole said. "I'll go this way, you go the other?" He asked. Jarsen nodded and took Eliana's hand.  
>"Let's go" He whispered into her ear.<p>

Ebony smiled. There was someone up ahead. No, two someone's. But one was either dead or asleep. The one standing up was clearly a boy. Ebony picked up her pace.

It turned out to be Tane, and Brita was lying on the floor asleep. Tane moved his body protectively around Brita, like he didn't trust Ebony, but he still smiled at Ebony. He put a finger to his lips.  
>"Ssh. She's asleep." He told her. Ebony scowled in reply.<br>"I don't care!" She yelled. Tane looked worriedly to Brita, but she was still asleep. Ebony took that moment to hit at him with her knife. She cut him across the shoulder and Tane turned back to Ebony angrily. He stood up and lifted his spear. He jabbed at her, hitting her thigh weakly. Ebony smirked meanly and swiped at Tane again.  
>Tane carefully directed their fight away from Brita, Ebony noticed. But she didn't have a problem with that. Ebony could kill her once Tane was dead.<p>

Tane jabbed and Ebony swiped. Ebony was winning, Tane could see that, although Tane had re-opened some sort of old wound on Ebony's arm and that didn't look very good.  
>"You can't win!" Ebony told Tane. Tane didn't reply, she clenched his jaw and looked behind Ebony's shoulder. He smiled at whatever was there, but when Ebony risked turned around there was nothing there. Tane was one, giant jab at Ebony's chest, but she dodged and hit back, cutting through his stomach. Tane fell onto the floor and Ebony left him there. She was going to find Brita now.<br>But when Ebony reached the spot where Brita had been lying asleep, there was nothing. Brita had vanished.

**Little bit of a cliff-hanger there I guess. Lots more death in the next chapter, I think. I still don't know who's going to win, but I have four possible winners. Two boys and two girls. I'm going to sort of go with it when it's just them left and see who kills who naturally, if you know what I mean. **


	17. Kidnapping and Dying

**This one's a tad different in the fact that it isn't set on a new day, but later on the same one. Sorry it took so long to update! I don't even know why. I've been writing everyday for a good few hours. Yeah, that **_**is **_**weird….it's not like I wrote**_** loads**_**….well, anyway. **

Brita was angry. So, so angry. That bitch from Three had killed her boyfriend right in front of her. Well, Ebony didn't actually _know _that Brita had been there, but she'd seen Tane _die. _

Brita should've been nicer, more like a girlfriend than just concentrating on Tane winning the whole time. Tane had the right idea, trying to make the most of it. But Brita had been stupid, she hadn't listened.

Once Ebony had killed Tane, Brita had followed her. She gone back to the place where she'd found her and Tane, obviously looking for Brita. When she found nothing she continued into the forest and Brita had followed, planning how to kill her. The wound on Ebony's arm that Tane had re-opened wasn't looking very good. Brita thought that if it wasn't already infected, it soon would be.

**Ebony** was tired. The cut on her arm had been re-opened and she was almost sure it was infected. Not to mention she'd had an uneasy feeling ever since she'd killed Tane. It wasn't guilt, no way. More like someone was watching her.

She continued to walk deeper into the wood, mostly uphill which was a trial. The trees were becoming thinner and harsher looking, not like the tall beeches that District Three was famous for, she'd never seen trees like this before.  
>Ebony narrowed her eyes suspiciously at one very thin tree, it was unnatural. She walked forward and felt the bark. There was definitely something wrong, trees didn't normally feel like that…<p>

Suddenly a loud hissing noise, like gas being released shocked her into jumped a few steps back. A slightly green gas was emanating from the cracks in the bark and it was about to engulf her. She spun around fast when she heard leaves rustling. It was Brita, running fast in the opposite direction. Ebony opened her throat to call out to her, and run after her, but the gas pushed its way down her open mouth and she was forced to swallow. She inhaled a few more breaths before her sense of reason disappeared down inside of her.

It was like she was on drugs, colours waved about in front of her eyes. She could see her purple veins underneath the thin skin on her wrist. They twisted about to make pretty patterns. Ebony dug out her knife and cut one of the dancing ribbons. Red water came laughing out of the purple ribbon and she cut some more until all the ribbons were sliced in half. What was the word for the red water? Blood! She was bleeding.

"I'm bleeding!" Ebony called out, displaying her red arms. She began to run, but that made her head feel funny. "I'm bleeding!" She called out some more. "Blood, blood, blood!" She sang.

Something appeared from behind her. The thing had blood too. All over its fingernails and its mouth. Or maybe not blood…make-up? She'd found a name for it. It was called Jade. Ebony laughed some more.

"You're crazy!" Jade said. Ebony picked the words apart in her head. _Yower- cray-zeeeee. _Yes. _Cray-zeeeee_. That's what she was. Ebony laughed. The Jade got closer and closer. She had a knife like Ebony's in her hand. The knife came closer and closer. It poked her stomach, and then it pressed harder and harder. It hurt. The knife stabbed Ebony and she immediately pulled out of her day-dreams. She was dying from lack of blood.

"You _bitch" _Ebony whispered to Jade. Jade smiled coldly.

**Allie **was sad. She'd found a friend in Eliana, but Jarsen was right. If they hadn't split up back then, then they would've been forced to kill each other, and Allie would rather kill herself.

She was determined that she and Cole were going to make it out OK. She was planning on doing something like Katniss and Peeta, only neither of them would die.

Allie stopped. She'd heard something, something to her left.

"Did you hear that?" Cole asked before Allie had the chance.

"Yeah" She whispered back. They walked nervously towards the hysterical laughter until it stopped surprisingly suddenly. They looked at each other but before they could do anything the cool of a sharp blade was pressed against her throat. Out of the corner of the eye she could that Cole was in the same dilemma. The person holding the sword to Cole's throat was Corey, one of the careers. She guessed that Shiloh was probably holding her.

"Do we cut?" Corey asked. Allie could feel Shiloh shake his head.

"We use them. They may have split up, but if Jarsen and Eliana hear them screaming they'll come, I'm sure of it." Shiloh slid the blade out from under Allie's chin and held it to her arm.

"Cut him. Somewhere, anywhere. Just get him to scream." Allie flinched as she watched Corey press the blade into Cole's arm. Cole bit his lip and screwed up his eyes. Allie was proud of him; he wasn't going to give in. Then Shiloh began to cut her.  
>The blade pressed against her skin and cut it. And it hurt so much. She couldn't help herself, she screamed.<br>Allie stopped as soon as Shiloh removed the sword. It still hurt like hell, but it wasn't so bad. Someone walked towards them; Allie guessed that it was Jade.

"I killed the bitch from Three. She was completely loony" Shiloh and Corey stayed silent and Allie got the impression that they didn't like Jade. Allie couldn't blame them, no matter how much she detested Corey and Shiloh, Jade was a whole new level.

"You're sick" Cole spat. Jade didn't react.

"Gag him" She commanded and Corey obliged.

"Roxana will have found Dove by now" Corey said to change the subject. Allie frowned. Why would Roxana want Dove? Then she pieced it together. Blade was protecting Dove. Maybe they were trying to get rid of the stronger contestants, which would be why they wanted Jarsen. But it struck Allie that it was a bit stupid to attack all of them at the same time.

"I couldn't find Tane or Brita" Jade said "But did you hear the cannon a while back? I think Ebony might've killed one. I don't know which." Jade looked to Allie and Cole distastefully. "They don't look very hurt. Are you sure Jarsen will come?"

"The girl screamed blue murder" Shiloh said defensively.

"'The girl' has a name you know" Allie said, but was ignored.

Her attention was snapped away when she heard running and sharp breathing.

"Roxana!" Corey called; his face lighting up when Roxana came into view. Across her shoulder she held the limp body of Dove. There'd clearly been some kind of fight because both Roxana and Dove had blood on them.

"Is she dead?" Jade asked immediately.

"No" Roxana said as she dropped Dove on the ground. Allie made a promise to herself to get Dove out if they managed to escape. "Blade will be on his way soon, and he's with the boy from seven."

"OK then. I'll make sure our friends from Eleven don't go missing, and you can get in your places" Jade said, with an evil twist in her smile. "I wouldn't try to escape darling" She said to Allie in a low voice. "Not if you want your little boyfriend to live" Allie stood up higher so that she was looking Jade in the eye, and spat at her. Jade smiled, wiping the saliva from her face. "I wouldn't do that again" She said, as she fingered the giant sword she was carrying. Cole tried to smile at Allie through his gag.

Jade hid them in a corner whilst Corey, Shiloh and Roxana got ready for a fight.

"Dove!" Someone called. From faraway by the sounds of it. Cole was struggling with his gag, trying to get it off. Allie tried to reach out to take it off, but as soon as she moved her arms Jade grabbed and twisted them, before tying them behind her back.

"Not so fast, darling. Don't want you ruining The Plan" Allie sighed helplessly as she accepted that for now, and turned to watch 'The Plan'.

Corey, Shiloh and Roxana were all concealed in the undergrowth. Even though Allie had seen where they'd gone, she still had trouble spotting them. The person who'd been calling was getting closer and closer, much to Allie's dismay.

Jade's evil smile grew and she stood up, clenching her sword hard, her knuckles white.

**Blade** burst from the trees, angry and determined. Fir followed closely behind, out of breath.

"Is she there?" Fir huffed. Blade stayed silent, narrowing his eyes at his surroundings.

"I-" Blade started, but before he could finish an arrow lodged itself in his chest. He found himself looking into Roxana's hard blue eyes. He screamed out in pain. Luckily the arrow hadn't hit any vitals, but Blade fell down, just before throwing his dagger.

Roxana's face stretched in complete terror. She was terrified of knives, and she dodged, breathing a sigh of relief when the knife fell to the floor. Fir didn't know what to do. He wanted to take the arrow out of Blade's body but he knew that the Careers were ready to attack. In the interest of the preservation of his life he knew he should run as fast as he could in the other direction. He remembered Dove's face when he'd told her about District Seven. Blade's glow of pride when she hit her target with an arrow. But even then he didn't have the courage to stand and fight. He turned sharply and ran as fast as he could back where he came. Unfortunately for him, by that time Roxana had recovered and shot one of her arrows into Fir's back.

**There **was a searing pain in Blade's chest. What had happened? Dove. Dove had gone missing. Then…Roxana had shot him with an arrow. He couldn't move and all was black.

"Is he dead?" He heard someone ask. A boy…Maybe Corey? Or Shiloh?

"Um…no" A girl answered.

"Change that! You need to kill him, before Jarsen gets here!" There was a pause, then the pain in Blade's chest increased unbearably, and it went black.

"**Scream** some more girlie. I'm not sure that they heard you, wherever they are" Jade threatened as she held her sword above Allie's head. This time Allie kept her mouth tight shut. Jade could cut her head off this time; she wasn't leading Eliana and Jarsen into a trap. Jade smiled sadistically. "This'll be more fun than I thought" She lifted the sword high and Allie closed her eyes, ready to accept it.

"Stop! Don't you dare touch her!" It was Cole, he'd wriggled out of his gag and Allie opened her eyes to see him standing ready with knife under her chin. Jade smiled.

"That'll get their attention."

**Eliana** had thought that she'd heard Allie scream, but nothing had followed and she'd assumed that it had been someone else. The Arena wasn't exactly stranger to sounds of terror and sadness.

But then she'd heard Cole. She'd been certain. It had been echoing in her head but Jarsen had told her that she must've imagined it. But it was feeding Eliana's paranoia. On a spur-of-the-moment, she stopped.

"I'm going back to look for him" She declared confidently.

"What? Don't be silly. We broke the alliance. They agreed on it too. They're on their own now" Eliana frowning in indignation.

"That's not right! They'd help us, I know it!"

"That may be as it is, we can't help them. I'm sorry. Now keep up. We really need to find a campsite before dark"

"_Please_ Jarsen. I won't ask again." Eliana begged once more, pleading.

"Eliana, I told you. I'm sorry. I would like to, but that's not how the Games work. We can't help them and we need to get going" Ellie continued to stare at Jarsen with defiance.

"I'm going Jarsen. And I think you should too. It's a question of morals" She turned slowly away from him, but ended up running away in search of Allie and Cole. She couldn't think about him all the time when her friends needed her.

**Jarsen **continued to search for decent ground to make a camp, but he was distracted. If he could, he would've liked to go with Eliana to help her, but he had his own interests as a priority.  
>She'd been right. It was a question of morals. But the entire Hunger Games were immoral. He wasn't doing anything new by continuing the fashion.<p>

But he liked Eliana, and he liked Allie and Cole - although he tried not to think too much about it – and they were in danger.

But for now, however reluctantly, he'd have to let them deal with it on their own.

And he didn't feel any the better for it.

**Eliana** ran fast. The trees all looked the same, how could she find _anything _here? Maybe someone would scream again.

She felt betrayed. She'd wanted Jarsen to come, even if she'd known he wouldn't. She still liked him more than was healthy in her situation, but she had to accept it. For now, at least, Jarsen wasn't coming to help her.

The air was becoming tense, and Eliana felt the need to slide between trees. She was certain she was coming close.  
>She looked around her current tree cautiously, and tried to muffle her sharp intake of breath.<p>

The careers were there. Corey, Roxana and Shiloh. Blade was on the ground in a pool of his own blood, clearly dead. And the boy from seven lay dead several metres from him. Eliana's eyes widened as Jade came into her line of vision carrying Dove over her shoulder. Dove looked pretty bad. Blood was encrusted in her snow white hair.

Where's the couple from Eleven?" Shiloh asked. Eliana eagerly awaited the reply.

"Still back in the hole. I imagine you heard Cole. I'm expecting Jarsen any second now" Was that their plan? To kill Jarsen? Eliana breathed in relief. She was so glad Jarsen had refused to help her!

"Did you hear that?" Roxana asked. Eliana held her breath in panic. They must've heard her sigh of relief.  
>Someone lifted her up by the back of her shirt, and she clung to the neck desperately trying to stop it cutting into her neck.<p>

"It's the little bitch from Twelve!" Jade shrieked in triumph. "Is your little boyfriend anywhere nearby?" Eliana pressed her lips together. She didn't have to answer to Jade. Jade shrugged nonchalantly. "We have all three of his friends now. He'll come sooner or later" And before Eliana could do anything, she was gagged, her hands tied behind her back and thrown roughly into a ditch.

**It **was night and Cole was still awake. Eliana was still out-cold and Allie had fallen asleep. He hadn't been able to see the sky that night, but he guessed that there couldn't be many people left now.

He was worrying about Dove mostly. She was on the brink between life and death; he couldn't imagine her lasting too much longer. He felt hopeless. He wasn't even sure why they weren't killing them. It wasn't as if they were much use. The careers only needed one of them if they wanted to capture Jarsen.

A cannon sounded and Allie woke up with a start.

"Cole? Are you still alive?"

"Yes I'm here"

"And Eliana? She's OK?" Cole looked over at Eliana's limp body. He could hear her breathing softly.

"She's alive." He confirmed. Allie breathed out in relief.

"I swear if I ever get the opportunity I'm killing that bitch Jade." She paused for a second. "Corey, Roxana and Shiloh too" She added as an afterthought. Allie lay down her head and was quiet for so long that Cole thought she'd fallen asleep.

"I suppose that means Dove is dead" She breathed quietly. Cole sighed.

"Yeah. At least Blade didn't have to watch her die"

"He watched the other girl die. The one from his District. He saw Jade kill Daisy. I don't think that dying before Dove made it any better." Cole laid down his head and let himself cry. Silently of course. He couldn't let Allie know. And he hoped that the poor lighting meant that back home Sam couldn't see, nor his friend Skyrah.

**Jarsen **was very worried now. Eliana hadn't come back, but that wasn't what he was most concerned about. That night the sky had projected five people. Tane, Ebony, Blade, Fir and Dove. He knew that Blade and Dove had been together and he hadn't seen a trace of Ebony since the bloodbath. But for all of them to have died in one day was worrying him, and so close together. He'd heard the cannons.

It was pitch black now, and Jarsen had set up a tent. He'd set one up for Eliana too, in case she came back. The empty sleeping bag was somehow eerie so Jarsen turned away from it. If she wasn't back by morning he'd go look for her.

**Corey **woke up feeling happy and guilty. It was an odd mix of emotions. Roxana was still asleep beside him and that filled him with joy. It was strange how such an evil thing could make something so wonderful happening. Corey chuckled to himself when he imagined what his father must be doing now. His father was his mentor, so he was probably watching him on the screens, shaking his head at him and telling him to start killing and quickly. If he got out alive he knew his father would go through all the people he could've killed and when and how. But of course, if he got out alive then Roxana wouldn't.

But he felt guilty too. He was keeping three human beings in a ditch. He'd hurt them. He knew it was necessary and he would kill them if he had too. But just because you could kill doesn't mean you have to like it. And Corey didn't. He'd never imagined how it would feel seeing the glint of life in someone's eye vanish, and know that you were responsible.

And lastly, he knew why Jade was keeping them. Why she wasn't killing them. And she was sick. She wanted to kill them all in front of their friends, and she wanted to make it painful, slow and humiliating.

**Electric** had been hiding. No one ever noticed him. Sure, he was the genius from District Three, but he wasn't strong, big, cute or sad. He was a nerd. A nerd who was just hiding.  
>And doing a damn good job of it! He told himself. Everyone had forgotten about him. If that Jade was clever she'd have tried to kidnap him, the clever one, as well as the strong ones. In fact, he was a little insulted that she hadn't tried to.<p>

But he knew that he could win, if he hid well enough.

**Haha! Did you think I'd forgotten Electric? Nope! As always, hope you enjoyed it ect. And now, for an idea suggested by ****nickelnick**** I will ask some questions about the chapter, and there's sponsor points if you answer them right, well, if you **_**want **_**sponsor points. No one wants to sponsor anyone!**

**So. Who killed Fir and how? **

**Why does Eliana go looking for Cole and Allie?**

**Who is Corey's mentor?**

**All worth…say thirty points**


	18. The Battle

Eliana's head hurt. She couldn't see, it was dark, but she could feel the presence of other people.

"Hello?" she asked weakly, but it came out rather muffled.

"Ellie? Is that you? Thank god you're OK!"

"Allie?" Eliana asked.

"Yes! And Cole's here too"

"What happened?" Eliana asked as she sat up, rubbing her head.

"The careers must've caught you, I couldn't see. They hit you over the head and you've been out cold all night."

"That explains why it hurts so much"

"Ssh!" Cole put his hands over Allie and Eliana's mouths. "Someone's coming!" He was right. Seconds later Shiloh's head appeared from above.

"Hey, I'd shut up if I were you. Jade's pretty grumpy in the morning; and so am I" He reached his fist forward, quick as lightning, and punched Cole in the eye.

"Shit, man! What was that for?" Cole screamed. Shiloh said nothing, only left moodily. Allie immediately checked Cole over.

"You'll get a black eye…"She fretted. Cole smiled bravely.

"Not so bad. It'll be a cool battle scar." Allie frowned worriedly. "And it's not even the least of our worries. We still need to get out of here and escape" He added, trying to distract Allie from his eye.

"Allie and I need to get out of the rope" Eliana said, gesturing to her hands and legs as best she could with her head. Cole's feet were tied, but not his hands.

"What about your knife?" Allie asked, brightening slightly at the thought of escape.

"Nah, they took it off me yesterday" Allie stared off into the middle distance as she began thinking again.

They all became focused and alert within moments when a rustling from the trees above caught their attention.

"Is it someone coming? Is it Jade?" Eliana whispered, as her eyes grew wide in fear. Cole frowned, and then regret it because it hurt his eye.

"I don't….I'm not sure, it sounds a bit like…" Then he smiled and only just managed to stop himself from wooting with joy. The mentor he'd thought was useless had proved his worth. It was a shining sword, floating down in a silver parachute.

"Result!" Cole hissed happily. He reached out to grab it and cut the ropes around his legs, and the ones around Allie and Eliana's arms and legs.

Cole moved so that he could see out and around to the career's camp. "Right, if we're quiet, I think we can get away" He moved to get away, but Allie grabbed his arm.

"I'm sorry, no way. I want to stay and fight them" Cole turned to her.

"Allie, I'm sorry, I'd like to get at them as much as you, but we can't" Allie glared at him steamily.

"No way. Those guys are asking for a fight, we might as well give them a tough time of it" Eliana nodded and stood by Allie. Cole looked between the equally determined girls, and sighed.

"I'm not looking for death. So I'll do as you say" He smiled and so did Allie and Eliana.

"Let's go then"

**Jarsen **woke up. His eyes gravitated to the still empty tent with the still empty sleeping bag. Eliana still hadn't come back.

He'd woken in the night when he heard the cannon, and he had no way of knowing if it had been Eliana. Or if it had been Allie or Cole. He'd promised himself the night before that if Eliana hadn't returned by morning he'd go looking for her, so he supposed he should get getting if he wanted to move anywhere fast.

His backpack was filled and his tent was folded up when he heard the blades crashing. Somewhere, somewhere fairly close, there was a fight going on and knowing his luck that was exactly where Ellie was. He began running towards the noise.

**It **was the last thing he'd expected. They'd escaped; and instead of running away which would've been the sensible thing to do, they'd attacked.

He was currently fighting one of the girls, the blonde one. She was more vicious than she looked, and she didn't look vicious at all. She had bouncy blonde hair for crying out loud!

The boy, Cole? Seemed to have acquired a sword, and Corey realised their mistake. They should've obstructed the entrance, so that sponsor parachutes couldn't get through.

The girl's had originally begun fighting hand-to-hand, which Corey was good at. But when Eliana had got her hands on a weapon, she was much more threatening.

She didn't use technique, like him and Roxana, she attacked fast and furiously.

Cole was managing to hold off Shiloh and Roxana at the same time, but Corey could see he wouldn't hold out much longer. Allie was fighting Jade; the anger was evident in her eyes. Allie had a bone to pick.

Corey was winning, Eliana was wearing out. If he could keep her going a few more minutes she'd be too tired to dodge a quick and deadly attack.

A scream from Roxana made him hesitate for just one second, but Eliana pushed him to the ground and held her knife to his throat. Corey rolled away; Eliana hadn't held the knife close enough. But Corey was worried when he saw why Roxana had screamed. Their plan had worked, Jarsen was there, but he'd appeared at the wrong time. Roxana was unconscious on the floor and now they had the upper hand Jarsen joined Allie in fighting off Jade and Cole was more evenly matched with just Shiloh.

Corey looked about in confusion. Eliana had gone; she was fighting off someone new. She looked a little bit like an elf but Corey couldn't put a name to the face. Who was still alive? Brita? And other than that? Corey had a scary feeling that there was someone else.

He used their distraction to carry Roxana away to where she wasn't in the middle of the battle. He then ran back into the fight, sword held high.

**Jarsen** had found her! He'd found them, and they were now winning against the careers.

Eliana was fighting Brita, and she was good. Eliana was sweating, but no one was coming to help, Cole was busy fighting Shiloh and it took both Jarsen and Allie to fight against Jade. Now that Eliana was fighting Brita, she was scared for whenever Corey attacked. Corey was strong and powerful, it had been sheer luck that had kept her alive in their earlier fight.

"Don't think you can beat me!" Brita hissed. Eliana stayed silent. Brita was right and Eliana couldn't waste her energy arguing.

**Allie **was in a tough situation. Jade was strong, and before Jarsen had come to the rescue she'd been in a desperate situation. Now she might be more evenly matched against Jade but Eliana had her hands full fighting Brita and Cole was at a stalemate with Shiloh. Allie was dreading the moment that Corey came back with his devilishly sharp sword.

"Allie, when Corey get's back…get him" Jarsen hissed from between his teeth, he wasn't even looking at Allie, all his energy was concentration on dodging and striking. Allie nodded, refusing to show her fear.

Corey's battle cry drew her attention and she ran towards him, trying to look fierce and brave. She could do this. Just kill him and be done with it, Allie told herself.

Corey was a tough fighter. He had some sort of limitless strength, not to mention a lifetime of training. Allie had luck and what she managed to pick up over the last week.

The fight was fast and dangerous. Allie was injured, her ankle had been cut at and she couldn't move anywhere fast without screaming out in desperate pain, and from the way Corey's attacks were leaning, it wouldn't be long until she had a matching slice along her chest. Corey's long sword was about to cut into her chest and Allie tried to move but her death looked certain. Just as she was expecting the blow, Corey fell onto his back; Allie managed to duck quick enough to escape punishment from his cruel sword.

A small boy, maybe only twelve, with dark hair and intelligent navy eyes stood behind Corey's body. Allie couldn't remember him at all, but he must have been at the training sessions with everyone else, but Allie still didn't remember him.

"You can thank me by not killing me" He said quietly, yet firmly. Allie continued to stare at him blankly. The boy took her vacant face as an answer, and shrugged, before hopping stealthily away into the darkness of the forest.

Now the only careers left were Shiloh and Jade, and Eliana was matching Brita in battle. Allie turned to see who needed help and limped towards Cole who was struggling with Shiloh. Just before she could reach Cole, Shiloh raised his trident high and brought the blunt end down on Cole's head with enough power to kill. Allie opened her mouth to scream but no noise came out. Cole couldn't die. He had to get home for Sam, for his friend Skyrah. He had to stay alive for her.

"Cole" She managed to whisper. She limped forward as fast as she could, gently pushing Cole's limp body away with her foot. Shiloh's eyes were fiery as he eyed up his new opponent. Allie prised Cole's sword from his fingers and struck Shiloh as hard as she could.

He matched the blow and deflected. But Allie hit again, aiming for Shiloh's heart. Again, Shiloh deflected the strike. Allie wasn't giving up until Shiloh was lying on the floor in twice as much pain as Cole. She was relentless and Shiloh was beginning to tire from defending himself. Allie continued to hit with steely determination. Finally she hit Shiloh on the head, not hard enough to down him, but hard enough to confuse him. Allie hit again, and again. She stabbed at his chest, stomach and legs, but was careful not to kill him. She wanted him to feel pain. And when Shiloh was moaning in pain on the ground, Allie lifted Cole up and walked away with his arm around her neck. He was barely conscious, only moaning. Allie pleaded with his to try and walk, but his legs swung helplessly and uselessly. She left the battle and followed the direction she thought that the little boy had gone earlier.

**OK, another sorta cliff hanger. There's about ten left now, and I have deaths planned for about five next time, maybe six. Lots of death there!**

**Questions? Ok, for thirty points each again.  
>What weapon does Cole receive from sponsors?<br>Who does Allie follow into the forest? (Either his name or how he's described in this chapter is OK)  
>How is Cole injured before the fight starts?<strong>


	19. Aftermath and Organisation

**I'm really sorry it took so long to update! I've no excuse really, I've just been busy. **

The fight was almost gone now. As soon as Corey woke he found Roxana and took her away, planning on breaking the alliance with the careers that way. If they followed him then he'd have to think of something. He wasn't sure that he and Roxana could take on Shiloh and Jade.

Brita had hit Eliana down with a vicious slash across her arm, but instead of killing her she had run away. Brita was worried and she felt certain that if she tried to kill Eliana that Jarsen would come and finish her off. And Brita was scared of only two people in the arena. Jarsen and Jade. The rest she could take on easily.

Brita had run for a while, but she was tired from the fight and was wounded.  
>She'd eventually found a small space behind a large boulder that looked as if it had once been lived in, but Brita felt safe. She hoped to hold out there long enough for some more tributes to be killed, and then she could turn up again and fight it out with the remainder. Or that was the plan.<p>

**Electric **ran fast, well, as fast as he could. He'd had asthma when he was younger and still couldn't run fast very comfortably. He didn't know why he'd helped Allie. He'd needed to get past the fight, but he could've gone around it. Maybe he'd helped her because she was pretty, or because she needed help. Anyway, he'd done it and he couldn't think about it too much. He had to run because anyone could be after him now. It had been a stupid risk and Shiloh or Jade could've seen him knock Corey down, or maybe Jarsen. But he was certain someone was following him now, very slowly, but all the same.

Electric stopped when he came to a giant waterfall. The bottom was clouded in water vapour but he imagined that it lead off the edge of the mountain.  
>He hid in the shadow of a tree and waited. It was about five minutes before they appeared and he was surprised to see it was Allie and Cole. But Cole was barely conscious, with one arm around Allie's shoulder as she used all her strength to keep him upright. Blood stained his clothes and poured down his face grotesquely.<p>

"Kid? You here?" She called quietly. Electric stayed hidden behind the tree hiding. Allie sighed and put Cole down on the ground.

She took off the piece of cloth she must've wrapped around Cole's head and gave a panicky look to the blood-soaked material before tearing another piece off her jacket and wrapping that around Cole's head.

"Don't worry; it'll be OK" She promised softly as she stroked his face. Cole made a faint grunting noise as the only sound which proved he was still alive and conscious.

"Allie…" He moaned.

"Cole?" Allie asked excitedly, hope growing in her eyes.

"Allie - I love you, but don't waste your life, I'm a goner. But remember one thing-"

"Yes? What Cole? What is it?" Allie asked desperately, grabbing his hand.

"Shut up, I'm being deep and romantic." He managed to laugh, and Allie let out a laugh that sounded more like a sob. "I will always love-" he began.

"What, Cole? What?" Tears fell from Allie's eyes onto Cole's face. He gave one last attempt at a word, but his eyes closed and Allie cried louder than ever. She hoped he had been about to say her name, but for all she knew he could've been about to say 'Celery'.

**Cole **wasn't quite dead; Allie hadn't noticed that the cannon hadn't gone off. She was crying too much to notice him pull himself agonizingly into the river that flowed down to the waterfall. By the time Allie noticed that he had moved Cole was in the water and about to plummet down the waterfall. Cole liked it better that way, the capitol couldn't pick him up if there was no body, and he hoped Allie understood. There was silence when the cannon echoed through the mountain.

Jarsen had fought until it was clear they were getting nowhere. He and Jade were too equally matched, and Jarsen ran as soon as Jade let her guard down. He'd watched Allie all-but drag Cole away from the fight and Jarsen couldn't imagine that the poor kid would live much longer.

Eliana had long gone, not willing to be made a target, but she was probably lingering around nearby waiting for him.  
>That was another problem. Jarsen knew that he should break the alliance with her; he couldn't win by working as a team with her.<br>But could he kill her? No, he didn't think so. He'd have to leave, maybe in the middle of the night?

He'd been right, she was waiting for him half a mile away from the scene of the fight.

"Jarsen! Are you alright?" She asked hurriedly when he came into sight.

"Yes, fine. Just a few scratches and bruises." Eliana smiled.

"You?" Jarsen asked. Eliana frowned and hesitated.

"Some long cuts along my arm and my chest. It didn't hit anything vital, as far as I can tell anyway."

"We should find some water to clean the wounds" Jarsen suggested but before Eliana could even acknowledge the advice a silver parachute landed at their feet. The number twelve on the top didn't help them decide who it was meant to be for.

"You take a look" Eliana told him. Jarsen bent down and discovered it was a medicine package.

"Must be for you," he said, but Eliana took one look and shook her head.

"No, this stuff isn't for me. Your name is on the inside" She pointed and handed it back to Jarsen, who frowned.

"You can use it anyway"

"No way! No offense, I'm not going to live off you. Besides, the cuts just hurt. I'm not losing blood or anything. Put those plasters on that cut on your face or something" Jarsen shrugged at Eliana. If she wanted to refuse his charity that was her problem, no matter how stupid he felt putting creams and plasters on wounds that were nothing compared to a day's work down in the mines back home.

"At least take some of this -" Jarsen squinted at the label "Um, antibacterial cream?" Jarsen shrugged and forced it into Eliana hand and turned around to walk. "Come on; I want to be far away from here by night. The careers might still be hanging around" Eliana followed, shoving the white tube in her pocket.

"I'm sorry Jarsen. I didn't mean to lead you to a trap" Jarsen grunted in response, then surprised Eliana by replying.

"Don't worry; it's a few less people to have to kill" Eliana looked down at the ground, fat tears growing in her eyes.

"I bet Cole's one of the dead ones. I liked him" Jarsen said nothing, only closed his eyes for a moment to remember his friend. He didn't just hear the cannon go, he felt it. The entire arena seemed to vibrate and even the trees seemed to stop rushing for just a second. He could hear Eliana crying quietly behind him but he didn't comfort her. Sometimes you just need quiet to remember the people you loved.

**Electric** had watched Allie cry with pity. He didn't dare run, after what had just happened he didn't want to disturb her. Especially not if she was unhinged at all and he felt bad for not helping her even if there hadn't been anything he could do.  
>But now she was setting up a tent and Electric was getting stiff legs from standing so long. He carefully and quietly backed away, praying to whichever god that was listening for Allie.<p>

**Corey **was worrying about Roxana. She been knocked out far sooner than he had but she still wasn't awake. Yet there was no denying she looked better, she seemed only asleep now. Corey quietly kissed her on the forehead and was about to poke the fire when he noticed Jade striding towards them, armed to the teeth with weapons as always. His heart sank; he'd hoped to escape Jade.

"There you are Corey. I hope you weren't planning on running away from me, were you?" Jade smiled, but Corey saw the threat beneath it. 'Don't you dare abandon me. I'm not done using you'

"Of course not. I was setting up camp a safe distance away" He said, meeting Jade's glare, however unpleasant it was.

"Good." Jade sat down and Corey moved his body so that it was protecting Roxana from attack. He knew that Roxana would be absolutely mortified, but he didn't care.

**Jarsen **couldn't sleep. In fact, he'd been having less and less sleep lately. He thought about things, his mother and father, his invalid brother. But now he was thinking about Eliana. She loved him, like all the girls back in Twelve, the difference being that he loved her back and there was no use telling himself otherwise.  
>The Games were a horrible place, no kid should ever be sent there and it made Jarsen flinch every time he imagined Cole receiving that killing blow, every time he envisioned Allie being stabbed through the heart. Every time he pictured a new, horrible and terrible death that Eliana might suffer. He turned his head and saw her breathing slowly and deeply in her sleeping bag beside him. Jarsen gripped his knife that he always slept with tightly.<br>Jarsen sat up and looked at Eliana, remembering everything about her. He lent forward, kissing her on the forehead before slowly stabbing her through the neck, knowing that that would kill her quickly and painlessly.

**I know it's a bit short, but I wanted to put something up before the end of term because I'm not going to get any less busy! With any luck my update punctuality-ness should improve over the Christmas Holidays, you know how once you've done everything a few days before Christmas and there's nothing to do? Plenty of time for writing! So, the three questions, thirty points as per usual.  
>Where is Brita now hiding? (And for a bonus 10 points, who was there before her?)<strong>

**What does Jarsen give Eliana out of his first aid kit?**

**What did Electric do after witnessing Cole's death?**


	20. Down to the Finalists

**OK then. Only a few people left, and after the deaths in this one we're pretty much down to the finalists, which is about five people? I was going to kill Allie last time but…I don't know. I just didn't in the end. So yeah. Let me know if you have any preferences as to who you would like to win, et cetera. **

Roxana's head had been hurting all day from the blow she'd received the other day. It looked like Shiloh had used the battle as an excuse to avoid the alliance, but unfortunately Jade was still hanging around with them.

The arena was cold, the winds blowing all around and sweeping her hair across her face. She had to yell to be heard and no matter how many layers she put on the wind blew straight through her. She could see Corey was suffering from the winds too, but Jade simply ignored them and tied her hair back into a tight ponytail. Roxana wondered how they made the wind, was it a gamemaker trap for someone else? It wasn't natural, surely?

Corey and her had taken down the tents in the morning, Corey was afraid they'd simply blow away and then they'd be stuck with no shelter for the night, but Roxana wanted a windshield more than anything.

**The **winds were storming and brewing outside and Brita was glad that the entrance to the cave she was hidden in was blocked by a large boulder. She could peek through the gap she used to get in, and watched the trees struggle to stand upright.

She was beginning to get an idea of who'd been living there before her. But whoever they were they were almost certainly dead by now. There was a circle on the ground covered in black ash that had clearly been a campfire, and Brita had found several coats in a corner, including an impossibly small one. Surely that must have belonged to one of the very little children?

She hadn't seen anyone in ages. Who was even left? Most of the careers, Jade, Roxana, Corey and Shiloh. She'd seen Eliana's face light up in the sky at the very last minute last night, just after Cole. That left Allie and Jarsen from the alliance. Was that everyone? She thought so, but something nagged at the back of her mind.

Sitting in the cave was insanely boring, but safe. Her mind kept on drifting back to Tane. What kind of life would he have led if he'd survived the Games? A good one perhaps. He'd probably become some sort of merchant, and live an ordinary sort of life. But if he'd lived, she wouldn't have.

And that was it. Once your name was picked there was no going back to normality. Once you'd been in the games, you'd seen death, maybe someone you liked or loved. You might have even killed. You might have become a murderer, which was how Brita saw it. But she wasn't going to stop those dark thoughts from preventing her from winning. She'd become a murderer if that's what it took to get out alive. Her only regret was that now _she _was going to leave, instead of Tane.

Living on the very last remnants of her dehydrated food wasn't nice, but she wasn't leaving now. She needed to recover from the day before. Eliana had managed to hit her several times and Brita wanted to make sure she was strong before she moved again. So she lay down and began to cry. She didn't care how loudly; no one could hear her over the winds.

**Jarsen** was experiencing a mix of emotions. He was incredibly sad that Eliana was dead, and partly guilty that he'd been the one that killed her. But relief battled the other two emotions. Eliana would never die screaming and crying now. Her last memory would have been of security and safety. He knew that she would disagree with this profoundly, that she'd say she much rather die trying to stay alive but that would most likely be painful.

He shook his head. Thinking about Eliana too much was distracting him. He needed to concentrate on right now. The wind was stopping him from hearing much but he needed to keep his eyes open for anybody else. He didn't want a fight after yesterday but he still needed to keep an eye out just in case other people didn't think the same way he did.

**Electric **hadn't moved far from the waterfall. Before Allie had come there that was where he was hiding, in a crevice between two rocks, but now he couldn't get there without being spotted. A stick cracked behind him, followed by some cursing. Electric turned and wished that he'd risked his chances with Allie.

**Allie **had known for quite some time that someone was watching but she hadn't done anything to find out whom. If they weren't attacking that was fine with her. They could do as they pleased. But now she heard a crack that was definitely someone new. Allie looked between her tents and the dark forest, and decided to make her way as fast as she could to the darkness of the trees.

She watched as the small boy she'd followed to the waterfall ran towards some rocks, but stopped and froze as Shiloh appeared. Allie froze too, but recovered herself quick enough to yell to the boy.

"Kid! Over here, quick!" She yelled, gesturing to him. He ran towards her whilst panting and wheezing. It looked like the kid had asthma and although he hadn't been running around like crazy, like his breathing suggested he looked like he was having real trouble getting to her. The fright of seeing Shiloh after him must've done that.

Now Allie had two problems. The kid wasn't getting to her fast enough and Shiloh knew where she was. She took a risk by running forward and grabbed the kid around the waist. Fortunately he was lighter than he looked and Allie was able to run whilst carrying him. But Shiloh was faster. Allie scanned the forest for a hiding place and spotted a dark spot behind a boulder that could mean a small cave. Still carrying the kid, who looked like he was about to pee his pants, she ran and all-but commando rolled into the small gap.

**Brita **had finished crying when someone flew into her. And quick as lightning Brita retrieved her knife and stabbed the first thing she saw.

"No!" Hissed a girl that she couldn't quite see. Still holding the knife and ready to attack at any moment, she turned to look.

She'd stabbed a small kid. It was hard to see him in the dark because of his dark hair and clothes. There was also a girl, whose bright, auburn hair made it simple to see her. She put a finger to her lips in an urgent manner and Brita quietened her breathing. She heard someone speed past the entrance to the cave and a minute after the girl, who Brita had decided was Allie, breathed out in relief. She turned to look at the boy who was by that time dead. Wherever Brita had stabbed him it had been effective.

"I think he saved my life, in the battle." Allie looked kind of sad as she looked at his body. "Will you help me get him outside so that they can pick him up?" Brita nodded and watched as the kid's dead body was brought up to the Capitol ship.

"Sorry for jumping in on you like that. Will you call a truce for a while? I need to stay here a bit. I lost my supplies" Allie asked and Brita shrugged.

"Yeah. Sure"

**The **night fell quickly and the only face in the sky was that of a small boy that Roxana couldn't remember seeing. The wind had calmed down and she could finally hear something other than her own thoughts and the wind in the trees. The quiet soon lulled her into sleep.

Roxana woke in the night. As soon as she opened her eyes she knew someone thing was wrong. Jade was standing over Corey…with a bloody sword

She sat bolt upright and screamed. "No!" Jade looked over to her calmly.

"And what are you going to do about it?" She asked. "This is the Hunger Games. He was bound to die eventually." Roxana knew exactly what she was going to do. She was going to kill the little bitch. She looked around to find a weapon but all she saw was a knife.

"Oh look. Nothing but a dagger. I guess I win after all" Roxana shook, with both fear and anger. She'd been terrified of daggers since her father threw one at her when she was a kid. Swallowing she rolled over and grabbed the dagger. It was unfamiliar and cold in her hands. She'd had no training with this weapon, but how many times had her sadistic father told her that if she wanted to kill badly enough, she could?

She stood up, looking at Jade who was waiting patiently. She had a sword which had more reach, but Roxana was quick. Jade thrust forward in an attempt to kill Roxana but Roxana dodged and got close enough to stab Jade in the arm. Jade cried in indignation. After a few more stabs and thrusts at each other to no prevail, Roxana saw her chance. Right in the stomach. And she went for it.


	21. Closer to the Finish

Shiloh woke up to find someone standing over him. He groaned as he noticed that they'd taken his spear and trident from him.  
>"I'm not going to kill you" Said a familiar voice.<br>"Roxana?" He asked.  
>"Mmmm" She hummed.<br>"What are you doing?" Shiloh asked as he sat up on his elbows.  
>"Stealing your food mostly. Sorry, I didn't think that you'd mind too much"<br>"Actually-"  
>"I came to find you because last night I killed Jade. Thought you'd like to know."<br>"You did? Ha! Good on you, Ana" Roxana turned sharply and slapped him. Shiloh swore.  
>"What was that for?" He demanded.<br>"Corey used to call me Ana, back in Two. Only him. I used to hate it but…Jade killed Corey last night, OK?"  
>"Sorry Roxana. But I'd be careful who you slap like that. It's enough to make me want to kill you!" Shiloh grinned but Roxana didn't smile.<br>"I have your trident; and your spear. You couldn't kill me unless you wrestled me to the ground. And be real Shiloh. You've always wanted to kill me. I understand it's nothing personal, you've got your family to go home too" She stopped for a moment as she stared off into the distance. "I don't. I keep wondering why I'm still fighting to win. Maybe it's just me, my character. And I couldn't give up, Corey would hate me for that I guess," Roxana shrugged, throwing Shiloh's spear and trident to the floor. "Down to the finalist now. You, me. Jarsen, Allie and Brita." Roxana waved to him. "Bye Shiloh. I hope I don't have to kill you"

"**Brita?"**Allie whispered. It was morning and Allie had just woken up. She knew that Brita was lying across the cave from her, but she was pretty sure that she was awake.  
>"Yeah?"<br>"I think I'm leaving now, want to come with? Not as an actual alliance, just walk with me a bit, then we can go separate ways" Brita was silent for a while and Allie couldn't help but wonder if she was dead. She knew it was stupid, Brita wasn't ill and she didn't have any wounds but the silence scared her. She'd had far too much death in the last few days.  
>Eventually she said: "OK. Just for a little way"<p>

They walked together, in the calm of the morning. The harsh winds that had been blowing just the day before seemed like a dream. Brita could barely recall the noise they made as they shot through the leaves, the forest, and the entire mountain.  
>She hated the terrain most of all. You were either breaking your back going upwards, stubbing your toe with every step on the bottom of your shoe whilst heading downwards, or trembling and all-but crying as you prayed that you wouldn't fall to your doom as you clung to a scary rock face or just steep ascent.<br>They stopped when they reached a very tall tree in the middle of their path.  
>"On the second day…This is the tree that you and Tane were in" Allie said, recalling how Tane had saved her life.<br>"Sorry about that" Brita shrugged, as she grinned; remembering Tane at his best. He'd saved Allie's life so that she could be with Cole, even if only for a short amount of time. Brita took another look at Allie. She was alone, unlike that day which seemed so long ago now. She wouldn't put it past Jarsen to leave her if it was useful to him. Cole must be dead, and Eliana. She couldn't imagine Eliana abandoning Allie.  
>"Do you know why he saved you?" Brita asked. Allie shook her head, still looking up at the tree. She kept imagining she could see Tane's eyes looking at her. Looking at her and saying 'Live a little'. "He told me it was because he'd talked to you" Allie's mind flashed to the training day when they'd talked about Brita and when Allie had first admitted to herself that she liked the dirty beggar. She stroked her notebook in her pocket fondly, remembering when he'd tried to steal it.<br>Brita smiled. "He also said it was because you liked Cole" Allie's eyes filled with tears. Tane was a good person, he didn't deserve to die.  
>"Ebony killed him, then Jade killed Ebony, well, she finished her off at least. As far as I know Jade's still alive"<br>"There's always a chance though. The cannon went off last night" Allie said comfortingly. Brita nodded.  
>"I'll go right; you go left" Brita said as she walked away. Allie walked in the other direction.<p>

**Today **was quieter and Jarsen could hear now that the winds had stopped. There were five people left now, and he was one of them. If he played it carefully he could actually win and make it back to Twelve.  
>Deaths were getter fewer and further apart. So far he'd been lucky enough to avoid Gamemaker traps, but he wouldn't hold his breath on that.<br>Ragged breathing and running footsteps made him stop. A girl with auburn hair burst from the thick trees and at first he thought it was Allie, but a closer look revealed that it was in fact Brita. She stopped suddenly upon spotting him and first reached for her bow, then changed her mind and fumbled for a dagger.  
>Jarsen slowly placed his hand on the hilt of his sword, ready to fight her.<br>"Where's Eliana?" Brita asked, as she held her knife out.

I killed her," Jarsen said, with a tinge of guilt to his voice and something she couldn't quite identify. Brita's mouth dropped open unwillingly and she managed to close it before she looked like a complete idiot.  
>Almost simultaneously they lifted their weapons and ran forward to fight, Jarsen with his sword and Brita dashing about with her knife.<p>

They thrashed and stabbed vigorously, Brita had to run and dart fast to stab at Jarsen as she didn't have the reach of his sword. She cried out in agony as he slashed across her cheek. She could feel the warm blood falling down her face and into mouth. She spat at the ground. Fortunately the cut had been on the back-lash of a slash at her chest so it wasn't very deep, but Brita doubted that even Capitol medics would ever be able to mask that scar. They paused as they breathed raggedly and stared each other down. Jarsen was mostly un-scathed whereas Brita had many cuts and bruises in addition to the one on her face. A thought struck Brita and she made sure her breathing stayed the same. Jarsen wasn't attacking – all she had to do was…

She'd done it again. She'd killed someone. She hadn't done it in a long time, last time she'd been next to Tane, high in a tree. This time she was alone and cold, with blood covering her face.  
>She'd stabbed him in the rib which meant a very slow and painful death for him. He clutched his side as he slowly crouched down on the ground. Brita got down on her knees and looked him in the eye. He'd thrown his sword to the ground so she wasn't worried he'd make it his last act to kill her.<br>He breathed through his teeth hard and fast.  
>"How did you kill her? How did she die?" Brita asked, more for Allie's sake than anything. She wasn't Allie's friend, but she felt they had something in common.<br>"Stabbed her through the neck." He hissed between breathes. "Painless and quick."

Brita closed her eyes. She was tired, physically and mentally; tired of the Capitol's sick Games. She felt ready to move on but a new sound from Jarsen shocked her into focus. He'd been breathing hard and heavy and regularly, but now something was different.

Brita turned and saw the sickest thing she'd seen in her entire life.

The Capitol had made her again, a projection, a puppet, but not her.

It was the spit image of Eliana.

"Sick! Sick, sick, sick!" Brita screamed to the air. "Sick of you, sick of it! Can't you let him die peacefully at least?" She screamed to the invisible cameras. She felt certain that her words were being blocked, but at least _someone_ would hear them.

The Eliana figure walked past her and held Jarsen's hand as he gasped in pain.  
>"Leave him alone!" Brita yelled at her, but it was as if she couldn't even hear Brita.<br>"Sorry" Jarsen said to Eliana as he sucked in a breath. Brita expected for Eliana to say something horrible, just like the Capitol would, but she smiled.  
>"It's OK. I understand. You know, I would've liked to know you better" She said. Brita watched them, still feeling like she wanted to puke, but maybe kind of awkwardly too now that they were talking. Jarsen did his best to smile but all he came out with was a grimace.<br>"Me too"

And then Brita walked away. She didn't want to know how sick and twisted the Capitol was going to make his death. Brita didn't imagine that the Eliana was real for even one second, she didn't believe in the supernatural. She was down-to-earth. A nice thought swam across her mind. It would be nice if it really was the ghost of Eliana Maserly come to take him away. Nice, but impossible.

Brita wiped blood off her face using her sleeve and spat a wad of red saliva on the ground.


End file.
